The Silent Shade meets the Black Beast
by MkJAS
Summary: Sequel to Two White Loved Ones, continuing the story line of the strange black dust... Lot's of Blake and White Fang. Also the Schnee's play a part. If you haven't read the Two White Loved Ones, you may be a tiny bit confused but not too much i hope.
1. Two shadow dwellers

**A/N: Suprise Mother fukas! Enjoy the beginning of the sequel!  
Who know's what will happen with this, coz i don't!**

* * *

"Hey have you heard the rumours?"

"Rumours?"

"Yeah the one's about that shade that lurks around in the shadows."

"What? Haha that sounds so stupid."

"Yeah well some people have sworn to have seen it moving through alley ways, especially around our hideout."

"Is that right is it? Maybe we'll meet him during our shift."

"Don't joke about that man, they say he's really scary and strong."

"Don't be such a wimp Piddy."

"I'm not a wimp!"

"Then stop being such a scaredy cat."

Piddy grunted as his partner continued to tease him, tossing his head to the side away from his partner.

"Besides," Jon, Piddy's partner, continued, "what would he want with us?"

"Firstly, it might not be a _'he', _secondly, some say he's looking for someone."

"Who?"

Piddy shrugged his shoulders in response. Jon shot him a look but Piddy didn't see it with his gaze plastered ahead of him as they patrolled the complex. Their latest White Fang hideout, was in fact not so hidden, but instead disguised. It sat in the middle of steadily declining factory district, business was being taken elsewhere and thus so did the workers and residents, giving the area somewhat of a low profile.

The building itself was a large white box, literally, it was basically a box. Of course there were no windows and only two doors, although the large bay doors at the back served as exits and entrances. All in all it wasn't an easy place to get into if you weren't welcome, but when you had people like Piddy and Jon walking around at night, yapping their mouths off it wasn't that hard to get some information without actually stepping inside the building.

Unfortunately tonight's patrol guards were just talking about a rumour, a rumour that was somewhat true. Kage Odoriko found it a little amusing that people were talking about him, the fact that they knew so little and had speculated so much, even if some of it was true, made him smile as he watched the pair stroll down the road straight past him. He followed them down the path, all the while remaining hidden within the shadows, his semblance working brilliantly as he was so used to. Although he couldn't see where he was going, he had to rely on his hearing and sense of touch as he moved around, if he opened his eye's he risked the chance of being found.

When Kage used his semblance his eyes shone a deep red, a light that couldn't be blocked by anything except his eye lids, he had tried a multitude of items to try and block the light whilst keeping his eyes open, but the glow managed to penetrate whatever he wore on top. To be fair he would be extremely overpowered if it wasn't that way.

So whenever he hid in the shadows, if he wanted to remain hidden his eyes would have to remain closed, two bright beaming dots in a pool of black wasn't hard to miss. But after years of experience Kage developed what many called a 'sixth sense' that was extremely helpful. He was able to sense his environment, to a certain degree, but a degree accurate enough for him not to bump into things.

So here he was, trailing Piddy and Jon, enveloped in the darkness of the night and hidden from sight. It was true, he was looking for someone, an old friend, a very old friend. A faunas from the White Fang but so far he hadn't gotten any leads, everyone he had interrogated so far swore they hadn't heard of them, maybe he should stop going for rookies and go after members who had been a part of the organisation for at least a few years.

To say Kage was in the darkness of the night isn't entirely true, for he was in fact hidden in darkness he himself created. Another great advantage of his semblance, he could create an area of shadow where he pleased, generally around himself and he could hide within it. But it didn't serve intelligent to use it that way unless it was already dark, a pitch black sphere crawling along the ground in the middle of the day was sure to draw attention.

Just when Kage was ready to step out of his bubble he sensed something. He stopped moving and remained still, eyes still closed he focused his senses one the sensation. He turned around, head cocked to one side, he could feel it getting closer…

There!

He spun around a little too late as the object smacked him in the face. He grunted and stumbled back before he felt the object coming back around again. This time he held his arm up to block it, but the object-whatever it was- wrapped around his arm and he found himself being yanked forward. He still had his eyes closed and took what felt like a knee to the face. Stumbling away once more he felt his arm being pulled forward again and he tried to grab the object around his arm but it quickly detached itself and flew away. He spun around and opened his eyes, somehow this person could already see him. The red glow came to life and his vision became a shaded red. At least, that's what usually happened.

Everything was still black. Kage blinked again to make sure his eyes were actually open, they were and everything was till black. He even shut off his semblance but everything remained black.

"This is true darkness."

He spun around at the voice. He couldn't see her, but he could feel her running around him.

"I've been sensing you for a few days. What have you been doing dancing around the shadows like that?"

"None of your business."

"Oh? Well then…"

Kage's aura flared as it warned him, he spun around and threw his arm up to block the attack. But the attack was a fake, the woman somehow managed to shift position lighting fast and was now at his side.

"Gah!"

Kage yelled out as his side was attacked and had him stumbling sideways.

"Who are you looking for?" She asked, her voice echoing through, whatever space he was in.

"What's it to you?" Kage replied through gritted teeth.

"I might be able to help." She replied.

"You're attacking me, why would I want your help?"

"Fair enough."

Again! This time from above, and then from behind. Kage growled as the stinging raced up his back. He needed to get out of here, he needed to see. He could always do that thing…

Kage threw his arms open to his sides, palms open and if he could see, he would have seen two clouds of black mist roll out of his palms and extend outward, forming two thin rectangular bars of smoke that quickly dissipated leaving two swords in his palms.

They were two thin rectangular, katana like blades with a red hilt. The sharpened edge of the blade had a tinge of red through it, running from the hilt all the way up to the point of the blade. They were light yet sturdy and the familiar feeling in Kage's hands was more than welcome. Although it didn't help him.

He tried to spin around and block another attack and to his credit he did, but the woman just somehow jumped over him, feinted an attack at his back before appearing by his side and slashing out at him. Kage could have sworn it was if there were two of her.

_'Maybe I should do the thing.'_ Fed up and annoyed, he decided to do the 'thing'.

He calmly closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. When he had settled down, he took one deep breath in, pooled his aura a fired up his semblance, directing it not externally but internally. He cringed as he felt himself being filled with shadows, a somewhat familiar feeling but one he didn't welcome. When he felt he couldn't take any more he re-opened his eyes, and this time he could see.

Everything was still shaded red, shades of crimson and maroon and ruby, but now he could see objects, and his attacker. Mere inches from his face.

"Ah!"

It genuinely surprised him and he recoiled backward. Her face was literally in front of his and she was smiling at him.

"That's interesting. You know quite a few tricks don't you?"

Kage watched as she strolled around him, his swords returning to his palms. He looked at his attacker, female, a little shorter than him but probably the same age. What caught his eye's was what sat atop her head. A pair of cat ears.

"He-"

Before he could speak she rushed toward him with frightening speed but where there should have been pain there was simply a flash and she was gone, and he was back in the real world.

"What the-"

"Hey! You!"

Kage spun around, Piddy and Jon had come back around and he had decided to come into view just as they arrived.

"It's him! It's the shade! Look at his eyes!" Piddy yelled, pointing a shaking finger at Kage.

"Uh oh." Kage turned and ran just as Jon levelled his gun at him. Shots rang out and ricocheted off his aura. He quickly turned a corner and plastered himself against the wall. He shut his eyes and summoned his semblance. A few moments later he sensed the pair run past him.

"I knew he was real!" Piddy called.

"Shut up Pid!"

Kage eased one eye open, watching the two guards run down the road. When the coast was clear he peeled himself off the wall and made his way out of the area, pulling his hood over his head and tightening his fingerless gloves.

"Who the hell was that?" He mumbled to himself, "cat ears. Why does that remind me of something?"

Kage thought it over before remembering. "That's right, Blake Belladonna's profile said she was a cat faunas."

* * *

**A/N: Dun Dun Dunnnn! So Kage is an original character, his name means shadow dancer btw.**


	2. Round two!

**A/N: So both stories started off quiet similarly...**

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon c'mon c'mon. Weiiiiiiis! Why do you have to take extra classes in the afternoon!"

Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY, partner of Weiss Schnee and _partner _of Weiss Schnee, second year student at Beacon Academy and sixteen year old prodigy was currently standing outside one of the many classrooms that lined Beacon Academy's halls, hopping up and down on her toes as she waited, rather impatiently, for the class to finish for she had a rather important activity to start, one that involved a certain heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and a certain sunset.

Of course Weiss Schnee had taken upon herself to enrol in some extra classes, having missed a decent portion of the beginning of the second semester between Cinder, the White Fang and overall just trying to stay alive with the rest of her team. Who knew their second year would be so hectic, oh and dangerous.

Ruby checked her data pad, '5:46' it read. The sun should be just about touching the horizon by now.

"Urgh! Weiss!"

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

"Yes!" Ruby jumped as the bell rand, sounding the closing of what had to be the last class of the day-who would have classes after six? The red head stepped to the side, letting the students forward out of the door, a few of them shot her confused glances as she continued to impatiently fidget, scanning the mass of students for the heiress. Pyrrah walked past and noticed Ruby, taking a good guess who she was waiting for.

"She's talking to Port, Ruby." The gladiator said simply as she passed Ruby.

Ruby blinked and watched Beacon's top second year student walk down the hall. Ruby turned back and looked into the classroom and low and behold, Weiss was indeed chatting comfortably with Professor Port.

"Urgh!" Ruby thumped her head against the wall, "stupid little goody tooches, has to chat to every teacher after class even if-"

"Ruby?"

Ruby shot up off the wall, immediately hoping she wasn't mumbling to loudly.

"Weiss! Oh hi! You're done? Great let's go we need to hurry."

"Hurry? Hurry for wha-" Naturally, Ruby didn't let Weiss finish her sentence, her crimson caped partner grabbed her hand and shot off down the hall in a puff of roses. Other students turned around as they heard a strange yelping sound but when they turned all they saw was a small cloud of rose petals.

Pyrrah was walking down the hall when she felt a rush of air race pass her, the smell of roses and a slight chill guided her to the source of it. She shook her head with a smile, those two made a rather quirky couple. Speaking of which, Jaune was walking toward her.

Ruby fought hard to dodge and weave between all the students whilst holding onto Weiss and the fact that her palm was becoming colder with each second didn't help. Whether it was because Weiss was annoyed, angry or simply afraid that Ruby might trip and send them both soaring through the air in front of all the other student and make a fool of them both, Ruby didn't know, but one of those things was making Weiss flare her aura.

"RUBY! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!" Weiss had to yell over the rushing air and if that happened to make her seem rather angry, so be it.

"No time to explain! Can't be late!"

"LATE? FOR WHAT?"

They were outside now, but they weren't slowing down, in fact Weiss was sure they were speeding up. In the heat of the moment Weiss couldn't help but be astounded by how far her partner had come since they first met. A year ago she struggled to carry one person with her a few meters, now she was dragging her beloved partner through the grounds of Beacon faster than was sensibly necessary _and _getting faster. Although right now Weiss wished she hadn't advanced so much.

The pair came to a halt, the world snapped back into perspective and Weiss staggered a little as her legs tried to slow down her with the rest of her body. They were outside, near the entrance of the academy, the sun was hanging low in the sky and was just touching the horizon, issuing a warming hue through the sky.

"Ruby! What are you doing?"

"Stopping because holding you like that was uncomfortable."

"What?!"

Ruby let go of her wrist, and when Weiss though it was over, Ruby scooped her up in her arms.

"Hey! Ruby put me down!"

"C'mon Weiss, relax I promise not to drop you." Ruby said with a smile.

"Drop me?" Then they were off again.

Ruby didn't seem out of breath or bothered at all by the fact that she was carrying another person in her arms, she still kept her lighting quick pace as they rocketed across the ground of Beacon.

Weiss couldn't make out their position, the world became a blur whenever they moved this fast, she had no idea how Ruby kept track of her surroundings. Weiss felt a splash of water and frowned as she tried to understand why. There were no lakes or pools around Beacon, the only bodies of water around the academy were the rivers that lead to waterfalls at the edge of the cliff the school sat on. They hadn't gotten that far had they?

Then Ruby stopped and Weiss could see. Turns out, they had.

They had made it all the way to one of the quite streams that ran off the cliff, a few… miles from the school.

"RUBY!"

Out of reflex, Ruby jumped and dropped Weiss, so much for not dropping her. The heiress hit the ground with an undignified thump and quickly got to her feet.

"Ruby what on earth are you doing! Dragging me all the way out here and I _mean_ 'all the way'!" Weiss threw her hands toward Beacon, which was much smaller now than what it was up close. "You better have an excellent excuse for your behaviour otherwise I'll-"

Like ripping a Band-Aid, Ruby quickly spun Weiss around, afraid that she'd just ramble on and make the heiress angrier, Ruby just showed her.

Weiss had to admit, it was quite a lovely excuse and it made her feel a little guilty for yelling at the red head, a little.

"Oh Ruby."

What was before the heiress, was a neat little camp fire, along with picnic blankets and of course a basket, which was probably filled with sweets. But regardless the scene was extremely warming and to Ruby's credit, even a little romantic. The site was positioned next to a peacefully flowing stream that continued off the cliff, the crash of water could faintly be heard from below, and if you looked hard enough a faint rainbow could be seen at the lip of the waterfall where the water spewed off as vapor and the sun reflected off the water.

Which brought Weiss' attention to the sun, and possibly explained why Ruby was in such a hurry. Weiss hadn't realised the sun set facing Beacon, of course she had watched the sunset before but it was always from a balcony and even then spires and buildings blocked some of her view. But right now, where she stood on an open field with no buildings or greenery to block her view, she had a wonderful view of the sunset her partner hurried to get her to see.

The sun sat, slightly below the horizon in all its golden glory, issuing its warming glow upon the sky and colouring the clouds and the sky a warming mixture of pinks and oranges. The fact that looking at the sun didn't burn her eye's made it so much easier for Weiss to appreciate the sight.

"I found this spot a little while ago and had been thinking of a time to share it with you, but the chance didn't really come up so I kinda had to kidnap you." Ruby nervously explained as she rubbed her boot into the dirt.

"Ruby why didn't you just tell me?" Weiss asked softly.

"I wanted to surprise you?" Ruby offered with a shrug.

"You dolt. If that was your goal I think you achieved it quite well." Weiss said with a nod, a smile plastered across her face.

"Hehe, sorry."

"It's fine Ruby," Weiss took her hand and walked toward the fire and sat down. "Ruby this is beautiful. How did you notice this?"

"Oh I was just kinda walking around." Ruby explained, scratching the back of her head.

"Walking around? A mile from the school?" Weiss questioned.

"I like long walks?"

"Ruby."

"Alright, I've kinda seen you watching the sunset a couple of times and decided to look for a proper spot for you to watch it." Ruby confessed sheepishly.

"Ah, you've seen me do that have you?"

Ruby hummed in response. "Care to explain." The red head asked curiously.

Weiss looked at her partner and then toward the sunset, it really was beautiful.

"The sunset has always been a source of warmth for me, although not so long ago it was a warmth I felt I could never have. I would watch the sunset and wish I could feel its warmth, believing I was just cold through and through. The pretty pinks and oranges were a very calming sight, at least that would have been hadn't I been so stupid."

Weiss paused and Ruby watched her partner carefully, noticing Weiss stern tone and the steel look in her icy eyes. But then Weiss turned to her and her expression changed completely.

"But then, not so long after that I came to Beacon, was admitted to team RWBY and became the partner to Ruby Rose." Weiss' train of thought brought a smile to her lips and a warm feeling ran through her.

Ruby smiled back as she saw her partners face light up.

"And I realised that I had been living my life as a lie, I realised I wasn't so cold, that a stone heart isn't what I had and it was because the warmth that that girl offered me was what made me realise I loved her and what pulled me away from the life I had been living. So now, not only does the sunset bring me warmth, it reminds me of you, Ruby."

There was a short silence between the pair as they looked at each other.

"AAAAAW! I love you too Weiss!" Ruby dived from her position into Weiss, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm your little sunset." Ruby teased.

"Yes, great way to ruin a moment." Weiss deadpanned, although she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"Oh c'mon I didn't _ruin _it, I just made more Ruby styled."

Weiss had to admit, she wasn't wrong.

"Well in any case, that's why I love sunsets and this, was a wonderful surprise Ruby. Thank you."

"Aw it was nothing, I'm just glad you didn't freeze my hand off back there. But anyway! Who's hungry?"

* * *

"Yang should we really be doing this?" Blake whispered to the blonde.

"Yes! Of course!" She replied, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.

"But they're having a moment."

"So? We can't let them have all of their moments without interrupting." Yang explained.

Blake looked at the bags they were holding, "But don't you think this," she waved the bag, "Is a bit childish."

"Pssh, no!"

Of course.

"Now be quite, they're over there."

Blake looked toward the direction Yang pointed out, finding Ruby and Weiss sitting before a small fire and chatting softly. '_That's cute' _Blake thought to herself.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Yang asked.

"No." Blake lied. Yang was a little over protective sometimes, which was ironic considering what she was about to do.

Yang narrowed her eyes at her partner, finding it very hard to believe as she looked up at the pair of cat ears.

"Riiiight. Well it doesn't matter. Let's get this show started." Yang reached into her bag and pulled the item out.

* * *

Weiss held her hand up abruptly in the middle of their conversation, Ruby had been talking about something she learnt in grimm studies and Weiss was admittedly a little interested, but she heard something moving in the bushes around them.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"Ssh!"

They were silent a moment before they heard a soft noise and Ruby was dashing toward the source. On her way she met a small pie soaring through the air, confused she grabbed it as she rocketed toward the thrower. She entered the bush and swung her arm out, slamming the pie into the face of the attacker.

The figure grunted and staggered back, bumping into a tree and toppling over. The figure landed on their stomach and Ruby realised who it was.

"Blake?!"

Ruby noticed a second person near her and looked at them.

"Yang!? Blah!"

Yang wasted no time shoving her pie in her sister's face, pushing her to the floor.

"Hah!" But Yang's celebration was cut short by a certain disc like sweet peppered with chocolate chips. The cookie smacked into the side of Yang and jerked her head sideways.

"Xiao Long!" Weiss yelled, throwing a handful of cookies into the air before her where they were caught by a glyph.

"Hey Weiss how's it go-" Yang cut her sentence short as a volley of cookies flew toward her and she dived out of the way, the sweets exploding against the trunk of the tree.

It was twilight now, the sun all but gone and the sky a dark blue and the moon shining brightly, the warm fire flickering gently, bathing the area in a warm glow.

_'Not this again!' _Weiss growled, watching the bushes for movement.

Ruby got to her feet and cleared her vision from pastry and pie, just as Blake got to her feet.

"Blake what the hell?!"

"It was your sister's idea!"

"Since when do you ever listen to her!"

"Good point…" there was a pause before Blake moved in a flurry of motion and had another pie launching toward Ruby.

"Ah!" Ruby waved her cloak before her and vanished, reappearing next to Weiss. Weiss would have flinched from the sudden appearance but she had gotten used to the red heads erratic appearances.

"Weiss! They're attacking us!"

"Clearly."

"ATTAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

That wasn't Blake or Yang. Ruby and Weiss looked to each other before they recognised the voice.

"Nora!"

Ruby tackled Weiss to the ground just as -what Ruby thought to be pancakes-flew over their heads. Ruby looked up and turned toward the source, Nora jumped out of the bushes holding a plate, piled higher than physics should have allowed, with pancakes.

"THE SECOND BATTLE BEGINS!" She yelled, bursting a bottle of maple syrup.

"Ruby!"

Ruby looked down at Weiss with a questioning look.

"What is it?"

"Your hands!"

Ruby looked at her hands and her face immediately became a shade of pink a tad lighter than her hair. _'Why do the awkward things always happen to me?'_ Her hands shot away from the heiress' body as if she was a hot stove and Ruby was on her feet. In time for a pancake soaked in syrup to slap sloppily against the side of her face.

"BULLSEYE!" Nora celebrated pumping her fist.

Ruby stood still as the pancake slowly slid off her face, leaving a trail of syrup down her cheeks.

"Now! While she's distracted!" Yang called to Blake.

Blake lobbed another pie at her leader and of course she was dead on point. But with all her new skill and ability, Ruby used her intense reflexes and speed to step out of the way, spin around and grab the pie Blake threw and threw it straight toward Nora.

The hammer user took the pie to the face toppling over with a crash of dinnerware and a splat of way too many pancakes.

"Woah" Yang breathed.

Just then the bushes Nora had emerged from exploded as the rest of team JNPR appeared, each hefting their own kind of ammunition.

"AAAAAAH!" They charged and just as they made to launch their attacks a loud and stern voice stopped them.

"ENOUGH!" Weiss yelled. "I refuse to go through this another time! Especially on a night like this! Honestly Yang I thought you had grown up! And Nora-" Splat.

You see, when it comes to Weiss and being 'civilised', Nora really doesn't take any of it. So naturally, her first instinct as the heiress began her lecture was to throw a pancake at her. It made a horribly satisfying splat noise, one that seemed to silence the entire area.

No matter how many times it happened, they were all dumbfounded, left to blink dumbly between Weiss and Nora. Except Ren of course.

"You never learn do you?" He sighed, shaking his head with his hand covering his face.

"Here we go again." Blake breathed.

"Oh yeah, round two!" Yang slammed her fists together.

"Why am I the only one scared?" Ruby said softly.

People found it extremely odd that the next morning part of the stream was frozen solid and the area surrounding it had been blanketed in a soft layer of white snow.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, should they have kissed? I dunno, I feel like there should have been a kiss somewhere there...**


	3. Threat revealed

**A/N: Hey guy's waz up? Let's get this sequel going! Oh before I forget, I'm gonna start an original story and I think i'll post it to fiction press, if any of you are interested pleas let me know.  
Enjoy!**

* * *

"Well that was….fun?" Yang suggested as they walked into their dorm, freezing and soaked with melted snow.

"_Fun, _is not the right word." Weiss corrected stepping in after the blonde.

"C'mon it wasn't that bad. Right guys?"

The three girls stopped and looked at their leader silently, all but Ruby and Weiss had a thin layer of ice crusted along their clothing.

"Dibs on the shower." Blake stated after the moment of silence, silently walking over to the bathroom. Of course she was the most uncomfortable being soaked and cold.

"Seriously Yang, what is wrong with you?"

"C'mon Weiss it was a bit of fun!"

"Ruby and I were having a _moment. Alone_. You don't see us ruining the moments you have with Blake."

"Oh trust me Weiss, you wouldn't want to."

Weiss narrowed he eyes at Yang and ignored the questioning look her younger partner was shooting her.

"You're horrid." The heiress stated simply moving to the mini-kitchen for a warm drink.

"Don't listen to her!" Blake called out from the shower, "and yes that is disgusting Yang."

"Aw c'mon Blake, don't be such a party pooper." Yang whinged, walking toward the bathroom door.

"Don't be such a perv." Blake replied simply.

"Haha, never." Yang walked away from the bathroom with a smile and began removing the outer layers of her clothing, mainly her jacket and the skirt that hung around her belt.

"Weiss don't you think that was a bit too much?" Yang complained as she felt how damp her clothes were.

"Not at all." Weiss replied sharply.

Yang glanced over at the heiress and was met with an unwavering ice cold glare.

"Of course. So why isn't Ruby all iced up?"

"You think I'd ice my own girlfriend? Don't be ridiculous, I'm not that cold."

"That's debatable." Yang mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Weiss snapped.

"Nothing!" Yang quickly called back, hanging her jacket near the window to dry off.

"AAAW thanks Weiss! I know you love me!" Ruby squealed, throwing her arms around Weiss and kissing her softly on the cheek.

"I'm sorry, but no matter how many times I see that happen, it still feels weird that Weiss is actually showing _and _receiving forms of affection." Yang watched her sister and the formerly know ice queen.

"And I'm yet to see you act your age." Weiss dead panned pouring her cup of coffee. "Ruby would you like a cup?"

"Of what?"

"Coffee." Weiss really had to try sometimes.

"Oh sure. Thanks Weiss!"

"Hey don't I get a-"

"No!" Weiss cut Yang off before she could finish. "Make it yourself."

Yang's expression dropped a fraction and Ruby snickered at her sister before she felt a pillow smack her in the face.

"Hey!"

* * *

Blake stepped out of the shower not long after, her hair in an adorably frizzled mess. The first time they had seen the faunas like that they may have laughed at her longer than was necessary, and it _still _made them smile a little.

"Enjoy the shower?" Yang teased, knowing fully well that she didn't.

"Shut it."

Yang laughed as she stepped past her and entered the bathroom herself. "Never gets old." Her voice echoed. Blake rolled her eyes and sat on her bed while she tried to tame her mass of hair with a comb. Blake was in deep concentration as she tackled her onyx coloured locks, each jerk of the brush shook the bed a little and had Weiss nervously glancing at the books that held Yang's bed above Blake's.

Bakes pouch that she usually wore around her waist, but was now placed by her side on the bed, tumbled off the mattress and hit the floor. It opened up and spilled the contents held within and a certain crystal grabbed Weiss' attention.

"Blake what is that?" She asked calmly, although she was starting to feel quite the opposite.

Blake stopped the battle with her hair and looked at Weiss. "What's what?"

Blake followed the heiress' finger and found the pile of crystals at her feet, immediately picking out the one Weiss was mentioning.

"Nothing! It's nothing!" Blake quickly assured, snatching the crystals up and putting them back in her pouch.

"Blake." Weiss rose from her seat and walked toward her teammate, "Don't lie to me Blake. What is it?"

Ruby watched on from the table with her cup of coffee grasped in her hands with a sense of confusion and worry. Weiss hardly used that tone of voice with her teammates unless it was something serious and when Weiss was serious, that meant it was _serious_.

"Weiss, it's n-nothing I swear." Blake tried.

The fact that Blake was stuttering and obviously hiding something only served to make Ruby even more worried. They all knew Blake had a shady history, but they didn't know how much of that history stuck with her.

"Blake, I know what I saw. I _know _what I saw, so don't lie to me."

Blake looked up at Weiss, taking note of the steel present in the heiress' eyes. Blake knew she was busted, she really couldn't hide it any longer. Of course Weiss would know what it was, after all it came from her companies truck.

Blake quickly glanced toward her leader and then back to Weiss before sighing in defeat and retrieving the crystal and handing it to Weiss.

"Here."

Weiss took the crystal and inspected it closely. It felt heavy and was a dark black, purple colour. Not only that it was radiating that unmistakable aura they had felt that night with Titan, and Weiss remembered it from a demonstration she had seen with her father.

They were testing a new form of dust their science department discovered. They brought the idea forward to her father and he requested a demonstration. Weiss was invited, although it felt more like a demand, to go see the demonstration as well. The crystal looked exactly like the one she was holding now, black, dark and powerful. The demonstration was completed outside in a 'controlled environment', a small sample was to be charged and detonated, showing its power potential.

Except the scientists in charge had greatly underestimated the power within the crystal. At the time Weiss did have a strange feeling about the crystal, but she kept her thoughts to herself as her father would have no doubt disregarded them anyway.

The test began and as soon as the charge was applied the crystal exploded brilliantly. Even from their observation post a few meters away they felt the blast and the blast itself left a gaping hole in the earth. Her father immediately debunked the product, telling the scientists to come back to him when they created something that wasn't so destructive and ordering them to keep it to themselves. Her father was a businessman, but he wasn't stupid, he recognised a lethal weapon when he saw one.

Unfortunately there was already a trucks worth of the product which now had to be taken away and disposed of. Weiss had always believed the job was taken care of and the dust was removed from existence. But what she held in her hands now said otherwise.

"Where did you get this?" Weiss demanded.

Blake was silent for a moment, Weiss wasn't going to be happy with her answer.

"Blake?"

"I-We, the White Fang, hijacked one of your company's trucks and found it full of that."

"Wh-what?" Weiss processed the information.

"We took the supply and tested it out and quickly found out how powerful it was. When I left two years ago they were yet to actually use it in the field. I don't know if they still have it or not."

Ruby had no idea what was going on, but Weiss' expression made her extremely worried.

"Weiss?" She called, walking toward her.

"The whole truck?" Weiss asked.

"Yes."

Weiss looked at the shard in her hand. A piece a little larger than this had shown awesome amounts of power and apparently the White Fang, the murderous group of faunas, the ones that have waged war against her family, have a whole trucks worth of it.

"I have to tell my father." She said aloud.

"What?!" Blake asked alarmed, shooting up from her sitting position.

"He needs to know. We believed the supply was destroyed, they were never meant to be created. It-it's too dangerous and now the White Fang have it! Who knows what they could do, what they could do to my family!"

"Weiss-"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Weiss turned to Blake.

"Wha-"

"You knew this stuff was dangerous! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Weiss I-"

"Blake I thought we were past this!"

"What? We are! This is different."

"What going on?" Yang stepped out of the bathroom.

"How is this different? This is even worse than you actually being a part of the White Fang! People's lives have been at risked for years and you haven't said a word!"

"Weiss they probably have hundreds of other weapons that could kill thousands of people! Why is this any different?"

"Because _this _affects _my_ family!"

Weiss turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

"Weiss where are you going?" Ruby called after her.

"To call my father!"

Blake was left to look at the open door in defeat. Weiss was right, she probably should have told someone about it, Weiss did have a right to know. But she just never thought of it, she tried so hard to forget about her time in the White Fang she didn't want to bring it up. She was being selfish. She was running from her past when she could have used it to help.

"Blake, what's going on?" Yang asked softly.

"I messed up…"

* * *

**A/N: Secret's and lies! Questions? Reviews? Comments? **


	4. A familiar partnership

**A/N: Double upload! I think this story is taking a faster pace then the first one... maybe**

* * *

Luckily the common room on their floor was empty because Weiss needed space, and any unlucky soul to get in her way wouldn't have had a great experience. She was pacing back and forth between the table and the couches with her scroll tapping against the palm of her hand.

She had to tell her father, he had to know, had to be warned. But then he would ask questions. How did she get the information? Was it a trust worthy source? Why didn't she find out earlier? All of the answers had something to do with Blake, her faunas friend that was a former member of the White Fang, boy would her father love to hear that. Weiss had to think of a way to tell her father without getting Blake caught up in it. She may be angry at her, but she was still her friend.

Then there was the problem of his reaction. No doubt he would be angry, no, he'd be furious! But what Weiss was worried about was her sister and mother. She was worried that if they were home her father might… do something he'll regret. He had a habit of letting his temper get the better of him, a very bad habit. Maybe she should head home to tell him? No she couldn't just leave school like that, they should be fine, Winter's a big girl.

So now all she had to do was call him.

Weiss paused and looked down at her scroll, she navigated to her phone book and selected her father's name. She stared at the green, 'call' button before taking a deep breath and hitting the button. She waited patiently for her dad to pick up.

"What is it?"

"Hello father." Her dad was never one for greetings, or manners.

"Weiss?" there was a pause, "What is it, I'm not exactly doing nothing."

"Of course you aren't." Weiss breathed but hurriedly continued, "I'm afraid I have some… bad news."

There was quite over the line.

"Go on." He said carefully.

"Do you remember that demonstration you brought me along to see about two years ago?"

"Yes, I haven't exactly forgotten about it. What of it?"

"The truck that was meant to dispose of the product was…." Weiss took in another breath. "Stolen by the White Fang."

One Mississippi, two missis-

"IT WHAT!" His voice exploded through Weiss' scroll, causing her to flinch a little. "STOLEN? BY THE WHITE FANG! IMPOSSIBLE!"

"I wish it were father bu-"

"How do you know this?! Who told you?!" He asked hurriedly, his angered breathing audible through the scroll.

"My… a trust worthy source." Weiss decided to be as vague as possible.

"What does that mean!"

"Father it doesn't matter does it? We need to figure out what to do."

"We? What do you mean we?"

"Let me help. This is my company too!"

"THIS is not YOUR company until I die! And until I do so I refuse to forever sit by idly while those _dogs_, sour our name and put us to shame!"

"Yes but what about the crystals? It's a dangerous weapon, they could hurt a lot of people."

"Let them! I don't care what those foul creatures do with it! As long as they don't point it toward us!"

"Father!"

"No, no no no. They have wagered war against us and all we've done so far is nothing! Not anymore."

Her father's voice was growing dark and steady now, which scared Weiss. It meant he was planning something and by the sounds of things it was something bad.

"They want a war, I'll give them one!"

"Fathe-"

"They want the crystals, let's give it to them, but I mean _really _give it to them. They already stole one train, I'm sure they wouldn't mind a second."

"Dad thing about wh-"

Beeeep beeeep beep.

Weiss looked at her scroll, he hung up on her. What did he mean? What was he planning? He sounded out of character, it was strange and it frightened Weiss more than anything. Wage war? He couldn't possibly mean it? They've done nothing all these years because they didn't want their name to be soiled with blood, the refused to retaliate, it wouldn't have helped. Maybe Weiss shouldn't have told him. Weiss clenched her fist around her scroll, if her father did something stupid and put their family in danger, she would never forgive him.

* * *

Adam waited patiently for someone to open the back doors of the truck he was standing in. He had just come back from another resupply mission, a rather boring task in his opinion. Now days they had connections and people smuggling in supplies for the White Fang, the last time he had to steal something by force was with Blake, on that train. Adam clenched his fist at the memory, willing it to leave his mind but to no avail, luckily the doors opened.

He stepped down and let the men move past him to begin unloading the truck. They were at their relatively new base of operations. A nice spacious building not too far from the city and the outskirts of the City of Vale, an ideal location for an organisation like themselves.

Things had been relatively quiet for a while, nothing exciting had happened since that little fiasco with team RWBY. They hadn't heard from Cinder or Torchwick since then and after what Adam's men reported he wasn't sure they had even survived. Same for team RWBY, unfortunately.

Adam was making his way to the main office to report in but an odd feeling stopped him. He paused in the middle of the loading bay, faunas walking past him . He swung his head around, sweeping his gaze of the hundreds of crates and boxes within the area before moving his attention to the dark shadows of the bay.

Carefully he made his way over to a corner, still feeling that odd feeling as before. Soon he found himself standing by a couple of boxes of dust crystals they had stolen a long time ago, each box had the words 'dispose' stamped across them. He remembered these boxes, remembered the job he got them from two years ago. He ran his hand across the crate just as a figure jumped at him.

* * *

Kage decided to stay in the area for a couple of more days in hopes of gathering some more information on Blake, and perhaps even that strange person he met two nights ago. Neither of those things happened. None of the patrol guards said anything about Blake and even when he went _inside _the building those men didn't say anything about Blake either.

Neither could he find that woman, he even went looking for her. Well how one found someone in the shadows was questionable, unless the person you were looking for had an unmistakable aura. Kage could still feel that strange sensation he had when he faced her. It was a dark, shivering feeling, he didn't like it one bit.

So when he started to sense it again on this particular night, he was both surprised and curious. He followed it as best he could, finding himself back at the White Fang headquarters.

"Interesting." He breathed from the shadows as he watched a truck pull up into the loading bay.

The aura was coming from the side, so he moved, using his semblance to travel across the open ground easily, the night time darkness helping his semblance to blend in. He reached a wall and pressed his back against it, he leaned over and peered inside. He found Adam standing still in the middle of the bay, he seemed to be looking for something. Kage's eyes narrowed as he continued to watch the masked faunas slowly make his way in his direction.

"He senses it too?"

Kage was forced to step inside as his vision of Adam was obscured by a wall. Kage quickly leapt up and landed on a cross beam that ran along the roof, finding comfort in the shadows. He continued to watch the faunas as he walked up to a crate and rubbed his hand along it, and then, he was gone. Kage leaned forward in an attempt to get a better view and nearly fell off his perch, but he couldn't see the man and he swore he saw a black figure appear behind the faunas before he vanished.

That was definitely her.

* * *

"Now those possibly can't belong to you can they? You certainly don't look like a Schnee."

Adam swung his head around, searching for the voice in this strange darkness he suddenly found himself in.

"Is it any of your business?" He replied coolly.

"I would like to make it my business." A woman replied.

"And why is that?"

"I want some." She answered perhaps a little too simply.

"You want some?"

"Mhmm." She hummed. Why did she sound familiar?

"If you 'wanted some' why didn't you just take it instead of telling me."

"I also wanted to speak to you. I believe it's been a while." Adam spun around when he felt what he believed to be a finger coyly dance across his shoulders. He nearly growled out loud.

"A while? I don't think we've met." He stated.

"Well, that's true but also not true. You see," the woman paused and Adam felt her walking toward him. "I am both someone you know, but someone you don't. A certain cat faunas?"

Adam took a step back as a woman suddenly appeared a few inches from him. It took him a moment to recognise the face in the dark but it was an unforgettable face.

"Blake?"

"I prefer Raven, if you don't mind." She said with a smile.

"Raven?" Adam took a step toward 'Raven' to get a better look. "You're one of her clones?"

"Don't! Call me that, if you don't mind. I'm not a clone. Call me the offspring of Blake's darkness, call me a shade, call me what you will but don't, call me a clone."

"What are you?"

"Hell incarnate." She dead panned, stunning Adam a little. "I'm joking. I'm all the bad and wonderful things Blake Belladonna felt, did and said mixed into one wonderful being of the darkness. Pleased to meet you."

Adam had to admit, this person was nothing like Blake.

"Why are you here?" Adam still wasn't sure what she was but decided to leave that for later.

"As I said, I want some of that," Raven pointed to something in the darkness and suddenly the crates appeared. "And I wanted to speak to you Adam. Yes I know your name, I know everything _she_ does and to be honest I would have never left you, you're much too handsome."

Adam blinked and the figure before him unsure what to make of her. "Why do you want to speak to me?"

"Simple. I wish to join your cause. The, White Fang, as you call it but I want to do it in a manner that only the two of us know about it."

"And why is that?"

"Oh I'd rather have my existence known to as few people as possible."

"Why should I trust you?" Adam questioned.

"Boy I didn't see that one coming."

Suddenly Adam was pulled from the darkness and was back in the loading bay, the woman had gone somewhere.

* * *

Kage was still watching that spot intently when she suddenly appeared by his side and kicked him off his perch.

"Wo-woah!"

He hit the ground with a painful thud and had everyone present instantly turning to him, some already drawing weapons. Kage made to get to his feet but a heeled boot pressed down on his back and forced him down.

Adam turned around and found Raven standing over what had to be an intruder. He calmly held his hand up to settle the men around him as he walked toward the intruder.

"Trust me because you have no reason not to. This really isn't my world, so I don't care what happens to it, I'm simply a bored lady looking for some fun." She teased.

Adam was about to speak but she held her hand up, "Don't speak to me, the others can't see me, you don't want to look like a fool."

Adam looked around at the other men, she was right, they didn't see her.

"Be careful, this one's cheeky." She stomped on the intruders back before vanishing.

"Argh! Bitc-"

"Shut up!" Adam yelled, "Who the hell are you?"

"That's a good question." Kage rose to his feet. "I, am gone."

As he said it, Adam was plunged into darkness once more and quickly felt a foot kick him in the chest. Adam was pushed back and when he landed on his back he was no longer in the dark, he looked up and found a pure black dome moving quickly out of the bay.

"Fire! Stop him!"

Immediately shots rang out as the White Fang fired into the black dome. But when the dome exited the light of the loading bay and entered the shadows of the night it disappeared. Adam ran out, reaching out with his aura to try and locate the intruder.

"I told you he was cheeky." Raven appeared by his side. "Would you like me to fetch him?"

"Do you know him?"

"We met once before. He seemed relatively harmless, a bit of a trickster though. He was probably drawn here because of me, I don't think he has interest with the White Fang."

Adam listened to Raven' words as she scanned the area.

"Follow him, keep an eye on him." He demanded, "consider this your first job."

"Great!" Raven leapt away into the night, "what a boring first job." She mumbled once out of ear shot.

* * *

**A/N: Kage is my favorite. Demon Blake has some sass doesn't she? Oh I mean Raven :P. Now I need a name for the gold Blake clone...**


	5. Assistance?

**A/N: I started writing my own, original story and for some reason it made me realise how much I enjoy writing _this _story. haha ironic isn't it?  
****Enjoy!**

* * *

Weiss returned to her room to find the rest of her teammates, unsurprisingly, waiting for her. She stepped in and all three heads turned toward her immediately, Weiss scoffed softly before stepping in and walking toward the closet without a word.

"So…How'd it go?" Ruby asked carefully.

"As well as expected."

"So, not so good?"

"No Ruby, unless you think a declaration of war is a good think."

"What?!" Blake shot off her bed immediately alarmed. "War? Against who?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Weiss replied.

"H-he can't be serious can he?"

"Unfortunately my father rarely makes jokes." Weiss opened the closest and pulled her pyjamas out.

"What could he mean by war? He can't exactly fight the White Fang when they are always hidden."

"He did mention something about a train, or rather a _second _train." Weiss looked at Blake with narrowed eyes, "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Blake looked at the heiress, clearly still dumbfounded by the news. "I'd really rather not talk about it." She confessed honestly.

Weiss humphed and walked away from the faunas toward the bathroom, but was stopped by said faunas.

"Weiss?"

Weiss topped and turned to Blake, "Yes?"

"You didn't uh, mention anyone's name did you?"

Blake was well aware that her father stood in high places, he would no doubt know people and be regarded with respect and trust. Blake also knew he didn't exactly like the faunas, or Weiss' friends, including herself. Nobody knew about her involvement with the White Fang except her friends and she really hoped to keep it that way.

"Blake, I may be angry, and perhaps a little weary about you right now but you're still my friend. Like I said, I'm really not that cold hearted."

Weiss stepped into the bathroom just as she heard Blake release a sigh of relief. She really wasn't cold hearted, if Blake truly believed that she would have told her father Weiss would be somewhat offended.

* * *

Blake woke early the next morning, before most of the other students. She had a mostly sleepless night, apparently war had been declared upon the White Fang by the CEO of the SDC, what that meant Blake had no idea but the fact that it was most likely not a good thing, plagued Blake's mind and kept sleep away from her. She needed to clear her mind, if only for a moment.

Hence her very early morning.

She stealthily got out of her bed, changed into her casual clothing and stepped out, all without making a sound. She needed quiet and peace, somewhere to meditate, somewhere to think and luckily she knew just that place.

Blake had decided long ago, sometime after she found this place, that everyone at Beacon had their own little spot that nobody knew about, somewhere they could be alone without disturbance. Blake's was out of grounds in the forest that sat behind the school, she found a small clearing some time ago, when she said small she meant small, it was large enough for about three people and the sun shone brilliantly through the top of the trees.

She reached that spot and sat down, she crossed her legs and began her attempt to clear her mind. After about a minute she thought she had it, but then she felt something crawl along her thigh and broke her concentration. She quickly looked down to find a squirrel scatter away into the bushes. Blake grumbled to herself and tried again, shuffling her in frustration.

The second attempt lasted a little longer but unfortunately she was apparently sitting too still and a small finch decided to land softly on her head. Right between her _cat _ears. Blake opened one eye and looked up and met the gaze of the small bird as it looked down at her with its head cocked to the side. It chirped happily at the faunas before jumping off and flying away.

Blake grumbled and mumbled something about being a cat before she settled to try a third time. This time the one to stop her was herself. She opened her eyes and stared ahead, thinking something over in her mind before she reached into her pouch and pulled an item out.

She came to this spot wishing to be alone, but now she felt like she needed to speak to someone, nobody was around so she simply decided to make someone.

She held the crystal in her hand and resumed her concentration, this time concentrated on her aura and the crystal in her palm and in no time at all, she felt her aura spark and sensed a presence before her. Blake slowly opened her eyes and found a clone sitting in front of her, but not any old clone, the gold clone from that night with the Titan.

"Good morning Blake." It greeted simply.

Blake remained silent for a moment, "Luna?"

"So you remembered my name?" 'Luna' teased.

"It's not that I forget, I just find it odd that that's what you'd want to be called. Luna means moon, you aren't exactly moon like."

"I like it, it's a reminder."

"Oh yeah? Of what?" Blake asked.

"Oh, something simple." Luna replied simply.

"I didn't know clones had secrets." Blake replied.

"I guess I'm the exception." Luna replied with a smile, "What are you doing up so early?"

"Trying to get away." Blake answered.

"You know, to be honest I know everything you do so that question was pointless. What I want to know is why call me?"

Blake looked and the dimly glowing figure before her. Luna hadn't glowed as bright as she did that night since then, all the other times Blake summoned her after that Luna remained a dim, yet strong glow. Blake didn't know why and apparently neither did Luna herself.

"Because, you seem to understand the…best, parts of me." Blake replied awkwardly.

"Ah, what do you need help understanding this time?"

"You heard what Weiss said last night? I don't know what to think of it. Should I be worried for the White Fang, for the Schnee family? Should I interfere? And what about Adam?! What if he gets caught up in it? No scratch that, he will get caught up in it."

"Does that bother you? The affairs of the Schnee's and the White Fang that is."

"Of course it does!"

"Why?"

"Because my past is the White Fang and my present is my team and one of my teammates happens to be a Schnee."

"Go on."

"Weiss is no doubt going to throw herself into whatever mess is about to occur and we'll be right behind her."

"Would you have it any other way?"

"No I wouldn't! But what if it comes between Adam and everyone else? Adam still holds a part of me, no matter what he has done, there's still that part of me that loves him, I can't ignore it that easily."

"So you're afraid of the choice, Weiss or Adam?"

"I'm afraid I'll make the wrong choice!"

"Firstly, I think you should slow down. Like a lot. You've skipped ahead way into a future we aren't even certain may occur. We don't know what Weiss' father is planning, or how the White Fang will react, so why are you stressing about a decision you may not have to make?"

"Because there's no way the time won't come."

"Blake, do you honestly believe your teammates, your _friends _will let you make that decision."

"No but Adam will."

"Then how can you love someone like that?"

"Because! For a long time in my life he was the one that was there for me! He was the one that saved me! He was the one that loved me!"

"He _was!_ Listen to yourself Blake! Look at me in the eye and tell me you can so all those things with 'is' instead of 'was'. I've told you once Blake, stop living in the past. You said it yourself, Adam is your past, RWBY is your present."

"I can't! I can't let him go."

"Can't or won't?"

"I can't let him go until I try."

There was a short silence between the two.

"Try to save him?" Luna asked softly.

Blake looked away, "Yeah."

Luna looked at Blake, she knew how Blake though about Adam. She believed that there was still hope for him, that she could pull him away from the dark path he walked down. Luna herself believed there was a chance, but how would Blake get her chance to save him.

"We can't save everyone Blake."

Why did Blake feel more stressed now than she did before she began talking to Luna?

"_We _are not alone Luna."

Luna smiled, "I'm glad you haven't forgotten that. How about you remind yourself that next time?"

* * *

Ruby woke up with a yawn and a stretch, her bed swayed a little as she extended her body to its limits. She smacked her lips together and swiftly rolled off her bed and landed on the floor. Weiss was already up and making coffee and Yang had just woken up.

"Blake's not here." Weiss stated as she sat at the table.

Ruby looked at the bed and noticed it was empty and had already been made.

"Where is she?" Ruby asked, fearing that she may have run away, again.

"Relax Rubes, I think I know where she is." Yang stated, lazily walking to the bathroom, her hair a mess.

"I'll go look for her-" Yang yawned, "After I actually wake up."

"Honestly, it still amazes me how she gets her hair in order every morning." Weiss stated.

"Why do you think she takes forever in the bathroom?"

Yang called out from the bathroom, but all they heard was a series of lazy, garbled grumbles.

Ruby sat across from her partner and looked at her as seriously as she could manage, but for some reason Weiss started laughing. Ruby frowned and shot Weiss a look.

"What?"

"I'm sorry Ruby but, I thought your sister's hair was bad!"

"What?" Ruby glanced up and could see her hair sticking out horribly. Her hand shot toward her head and held her hair down, her cheeks warming.

"Hey! I'm trying to be serious here!" Ruby complained.

"I know, I know I'm sorry." Weiss said between giggles, "Here, I'll fix it."

Weiss got up and retrieved a comb from the draw by her bed. Ruby sat still, with an adorably cute grumpy face, that made Weiss smile, as the heiress combed her ruby hair into an orderly fashion.

"You want to talk about what my father said don't you?" Weiss asked as she ran the comb through Ruby's hair.

Ruby nodded.

"There really isn't much to say."

"Not much to say? He declared war!"

"There's that." Weiss replied.

"Weiss aren't you worried?"

"Of course I'm worried Ruby. But what can I do if I don't even know what he's planning?"

"How about finding out?"

"He won't tell me."

"Talk him out of it?"

"He's too stubborn."

"So what then?! You're just going to sit by while he plans an attack on the White Fang?"

"Ruby I'm not at all worried about the White Fang, what I'm worried about is what will happen to my family."

Weiss set the brush down and sat next to Ruby.

"Weiss!"

"Ruby I will not change my opinion on the White Fang because I've grown closer to Blake. They still killed members of my family, I still hate them."

"Not all of them are bad people. Some are just misguided."

"I'm going to find Blake." Yang called as she left the dorm.

"What do you want me to do Ruby?"

"Anything! Weiss this won't just affect you. Blake is obviously going to be worried, I'm already worried and I'm sure Yang is very worried. Not to mention all of lives that will be put in danger."

"Ruby my father won't listen to me, the authorities won't do anything until something actually happens, which leaves who?"

"Duh, uh, uhm-Ozpin!" Ruby blurted.

"The head master?" Weiss asked.

"Yes! Professor Ozpin! We can tell him, his a super awesome hunter that will no doubt have other buddies who are just as awesome. Plus he trusts us." Ruby felt pretty proud of her solution.

"I'm sorry Ruby but if Ozpin was going to be that kind of person he would've stepped in when we all nearly died."

"Hey that's unfair, nobody knew about that except us." Ruby defended.

"I found that hard to believe." Weiss mumbled, remembering her chat with the headmaster a few months ago.

"What?"

"Nothing. Ruby he'll no doubt ask questions."

"So? Weiss we can't sit by and let this happen! We need to _do _something. We're huntress' it's our duty."

"How many times are you doing to play that card?"

"It's not a 'card' Weiss, it's the truth."

Weiss finally gave in. "Fine. But you speak to him, seeing as it was your idea."

* * *

**A/N: Oooo Ruby's calling on the big guns! But will he answer? **


	6. PANCAKES!

**A/N: Someone tell me, how are you liking the sequel so far?**

* * *

"Blake? Blaaaake?"

Blake's eyes shot open at the call.

"Yang?" She breathed softly.

She heard rustling as something moved through the trees and by the amount of noise it was making it was probably Yang. Blake looked to Luna and realised she was still sitting with her.

"Oh sh- Get! Get out, go!" Blake waved her hands and Luna as she motioned for her to 'leave'.

"Where do you want me to go?" She questioned with a grin.

"Luna just-"

"Blake?"

Blake paused and slowly turned toward the blonde.

"Good morning?"

Yang stared at Luna, glanced over at Blake and the looked back to what appeared to be Blake but glowing a warm amber.

"Uh…"

"Yang, this is uh,"

"Awkward?" Luna offered cheekily.

"Luna. She's a clone, of sorts."

"This is weird." Yang breathed.

"Yang she's just a clone relax."

"She doesn't look like one."

"Trust me, I'm just a clone." Luna assured.

"One that talks?" Yang questioned, still in disbelief.

"One that talks." Luna repeated.

"Ok, I came here to make sure you were okay but now I think I need to check if_I'm _ok."

Blake chuckled softly as she realised how comical the scenario had become. She walked over to Yang and held her shoulders and shook her gently.

"Yang, she's just a clone except a bit more…complex."

Yang blinked and looked at her partner, "Right, well you're going to have to explain this before I lose my mind."

"No problem." Blake stated.

Blake and Yang left the clearing and made their way back to Beacon, all the while Blake tried to explain Luna to Yang. She started with Weiss giving her the white crystal and how Luna first appeared by accident and then she told Yang how she used her to fight that night with the Titan and explained that it was Luna that saved her form the Titan, although she quickly skimmed over that part. By the end of it Yang seemed to understand and calmed down enough to start acting her normal self, her loving caring self.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" She asked as they peacefully walked through the field leading to Beacon.

"About what?"

"About last night, and why you're out here so early."

Blake remained silent and Yang waited patiently for her partner.

"I think, I have it under control, for now."

Yang nodded and thought it wise not to press the matter further.

"If you ever need to talk to someone, you know I'll always be there for you."

"I know Yang, thank you."

Yang looked at her partner as they walked side by side, she knew Blake was probably dealing with some conflicting thoughts at the moment and she wanted nothing more than to help her and comfort her. To make sure she was safe and happy and kept showing that beautiful smile that somehow managed to warm her more than her own semblance.

That smile was the most precious thing to Yang, it was what she longed to see whenever she woke up and wanted to dream about when she slept. But not even her own dreams could replicate it.

"Blake," Yang said softly.

"Mhm." She hummed in response.

"I love you."

It wasn't the first time Yang said it, but it still made Blake's heart skip a beat when she heard it. Three words had never meant so much to her. Blake said Adam had loved her, but as she thought about it, the love she felt from Adam was nothing more than a small flicker when compared to the fire that burnt whenever she was with Yang. Blake _knew _that Yang loved her, she felt it in the she held her, in the way she looked at her, in the things that she said and the things she did. Blake knew that Yang would do anything to keep her safe and happy, after she they thought she had died, Yang made sure Blake knew that. Blake hated to see Yang hurt, even though the brawler was not a stranger to taking a few hits, Blake never became comfortable with it, whether it be physical pain or emotional pain, the latter having the greater affect.

Blake still felt guilt for whatever pain she had caused her team in the days she was missing and whenever she tried to apologise Yang would stop her and tell her not to, but even so Blake hated herself for putting them through that. But all she could do now was make sure it didn't happen again.

"I love you too Yang." She said sincerely, looking at her partner affectionately.

The pair stopped walking as they looked at each other in silence for a moment, Yang looked at her slightly shorter partner and noticed the lack of a certain item wrapped around a certain pair of ears. Yang smiled and reached over to ruffle the space between the cat ears. Blake smiled and couldn't help but lean into the touch, Yang responded and pulled Blake into a warm hug.

"Awwww I love you soo much!" Yang squealed as she lifted Blake off her feet.

"Yang! Air! Breath!" The faunas managed to say.

Yang returned her to the ground but kept one arm around her as they begun to walk back.

"C'mon, let's go see what my sister and her ice queen are up to."

* * *

Blake and Yang met the other half of their team outside with team JNPR. Nora waved them over excitedly and Blake and Yang shared a glance before moving to meet up with them.

"Hey guys what's going o-"

"PANCAKES!" Nora cut Yang off.

"Pancakes?" Blake asked, a smile reaching her lips as the orange haired girl jumped up and down perhaps a little too excitedly.

"Yeah, Nora wanted pancakes-"

"Again." Ren cut in.

"So we decided to go out as a team for breakfast." Jaune explained.

Blake looked over at Weiss for an explanation as to what they were doing.

"Nora invited us and Ruby insisted we go." The heiress explained evenly.

"Sure did! Now that your back we can get going!" Ruby confirmed happily, threading her arm between Weiss' as she lead the way forward.

Ruby came to a halt beside Blake, Weiss nearly falling off her feet as her partner stoped without warning.

"Oh, how are feeling by the way?" She asked sheepishly.

"I'm fine Ruby." Blake assured with a soft laugh.

"Ruby can yo-"

Weiss sentence was lost as the red head shot off down the way with her arm still around Weiss'. Blake looked at Yang and Yang merely offered her a smile and a shrug.

Somehow Nora had beaten Ruby to their transport and RWBY's leader gaped at the hammer user.

"How did you-"

"Nobody beats me to pancakes!"

Ren strolled in shortly after, "It's true, don't even try."

"We really need to have a chat about you using your semblance when I'm with you. You're going to hurt me one day." Weiss stated, picking a rose petal off her dress and holding it in her palm. Her lips curled up into a smile before the petal slowly faded away.

"Weiss! I would never hurt you-" Ruby paused as she noticed Weiss' expression drop a little as the petal left her.

"Hey, don't look so disappointed. You've got me after all!" She continued gleefully.

Weiss looked at Ruby and smiled as Ruby leaned her head against her.

"That is indeed true, and I'm glad it is."

Pyrrah and Jaune walked in next, Pyrrah waved good morning in that sweet warming voice with Jaune close by her side. Pyrrah looked over the white rose pair and couldn't help but smile, she was glad everyone had found their special someone. Even if that special someone needed to be informed themselves that they _were _that special someone. The gladiators gaze drifted over to the blonde boy by her side just as he tripped over an indent in the transports floor, causing her to bring a hand to her mouth as she failed to stifle a laugh.

Blake and Yang finally stepped in, much to Nora's delight, and they were soon in the air and on their way to Vale.

* * *

The two teams walked into 'Angelica' , the restaurant, and the waiters present had to force their mouths to stay closed. They knew both Ruby and Nora, they had a reputation for their adorable and quirk natures, their cheerful attitudes, generous tipping but most of all, their large, sugar loaded, syrup swimming orders. And now they were both present, at the same time, with the rest of their teams.

Immediately one of the waiters ran into the kitchen and Blake was sure she heard them say, "They're both _here!_"

Blake smiled and Yang shot her a questioning glance but she brushed her off as they sat down.

"Okay so what are we havi-"

"PANCAKES!" Ruby and Nora yelled over Pyrrah, who jumped in her seat.

"Calm down would you." Weiss hissed, but Ruby giggled along with Nora.

Although it was quite obvious what they would be having, a waitress came to take their orders.

After Ruby and Nora yelled out pancakes, startling the waitress, the rest of them ordered. Weiss simply ordered French toast, Blake decided on a delightful bowl of oats and yoghurt, which awarded her a funny look from Yang. Yang herself opted for a meatier meal and went with bacon and eggs. Jaune shyly ordered a banana split, Pyrrah surprisingly ordered pancakes as well and Ren, well Ren didn't really get a choice with Nora forcibly ordering for him.

The two teams sat in idle chit chat as they waited, some patiently, some not so patiently. They talked about school and Pyrrah even shared some stories from her training sessions with Jaune, much to his embarrassment but the delight of the others. For a moment team RWBY forgot about all their troubles and worries, the White Fang and Weiss' father a distant memory in the company of their friends and the joy they shared.

Their food arrived, Ruby and Nora's plate stacked impossibly high with pancakes. Nora's swimming in syrup and Ruby's drowned in strawberry ice cream. For a period of time, Ruby and Nora's faces were hidden behind the stack of pancakes before they dig in and reduced its size in an amazingly quick period of time.

There were multiple occasions where Weiss had to remind Ruby to swallow before she stared speaking and Ren had to make sure his partner didn't choke to death. The two girls were sure to make the other laugh and even the waiters had a good time watching the two teams enjoy themselves.

"Oh, I can't go on!" Ruby moaned as she cradled her now round tummy, her plate still holding a few pancakes.

Weiss looked over at her and rolled her eyes. "I told you not to order so much."

"Yeah I know but it was soooo good!" Ruby confessed, Nora humming in agreement.

"Well you can't waste the food." Weiss stated.

"I can't. You eat it."

"No thank you."

"Actually, you eat it." Ruby repeated with determination.

The rest of table went silent as they watched the pair.

"No Ruby I'm fine. It's your meal finish it."

"No, no c'mon Weiss," Ruby said as she cut off a piece, "When was the last time you had a pancake?"

"I really don't see how that is any of your business." Weiss said smugly.

"It is my business. As your partner I have to make sure you up your yearly intake of sweets, which includes pancakes." Ruby held up her fork with the piece attached to it.

"She's right!' Nora sang.

Weiss shot the girl a glare but she was too busy playing with the syrup in her plate to notice.

"Honestly Ruby, stop making up nonsense."

"It's not." Ruby moved the fork closer to Weiss' mouth.

"No, Ruby stop." Weiss moved her mouth out of the way but Ruby was persistent, following her closely. The pair became oblivious to the fact the rest of them were watching.

"C'mon Weiiiiis" Ruby sang with a cheeky grin.

"Ruby!" Weiss continued to dodge and she cursed herself as she felt her lips curl up into a smile as she remembered the last time something like this happened. It ended with them covered in ice-cream.

Ruby's smile grew as Weiss' smile showed and Ruby giggled cutely. Weiss let out a laugh that was a half splatter as her lips brushed past the pancake.

"Should I do something here?" Yang whispered to Blake.

Blake shook her head with a smile, "Just let it play out."

"Weiss."

"Ruby!"

"Weiiis."

"Ruby!"

"Weiss."

"Fine!" Weiss gave in, "I'll have your pancakes."

Ruby humphed in triumph and slid her plate over to Weiss and only then did the pair notice everyone else staring at them. Weiss paused and immediately went a shade similar to the cloak worn by her partner. Ruby chuckled nervously but Weiss was the one to speak.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nothin." Yang replied with a smirk.

Weiss glared at the brawler and attacked the pancake before her with excessive ferocity, only insuring that Yang became more amused and actually laughed aloud.

* * *

The two teams managed to stay together the rest of the day, keeping the White Fang and Weiss' father out of team RWBY's mind for the whole day. They enjoyed themselves and it was the kind of stress relief they all needed. Nora was continuously goofy and absurd and Weiss was certain she was a bad influence on Ruby. Pyrrah was a polite and sunny as ever, her beautiful smile and delightful laugh was more than welcomed and Jaune's dorky nature provided the comedic relief he had no qualms with being the source of. Of course Ren remained as silent as ever but when he did have something to say it was more than worth hearing it.

Team JNPR was indeed the team Ruby was glad to have a friendship with. They would always be there for them and no matter what the situation and that day was possibly one of the best gifts they could have given RWBY, even if it wasn't voluntarily.

* * *

Kage was getting frustrated. He was told that Blake had been a apart of the White Fang for a long time in her life, so why was it that the White Fang didn't know anything about her. So far everyone he interrogated had no clue what he was talking about.

"Blake?"

"B-Belladonna?"

"Cat faunas? Yeah there's a bunch of those. Please don't hurt me!"

It was always the same response, they knew nothing of Blake Belladonna. Surely someone would know, but he had a feeling the only ones that did were high up the food chain and he didn't think it would be wise to try and climb up there.

Plus, to add to it all, he was nearly captured and that strange woman that had cat ears was still around, apparently she decided to join the White Fang. There was something odd about her, he just felt it, she didn't seem normal and she had some fascination with anything related to the dark. He had no clue what she had said to Adam that night, one thing Kage did find out was that faunas' name. Apparently Adam was held in high regard amongst the White Fang not just that, their leader apparently liked him too. Kage knew from looking at him and by the aura he radiated that he was powerful, how powerful was still to be decided.

Kage was about to call it a night, after the events of last night he thought maybe he should wait by in case something else happened between that woman and Adam, Kage was extremely troubled by her appearance, why, he wasn't sure.

"What was that guy's name?" One of the guards asked his partner as they patrolled the area.

"What guy?" His partner asked. Kage began his stealthily departure.

"Remember the guy that we helped steal that dust on the docks in Vale and then that cat faunas attacked us?"

Kage froze.

"Oooh yeah yeah I remember now. The guy with the orange hair and the cane. Yeah what _was_ his name?"

"I think it started with t, Tor-" The guard was cut off when he suddenly felt a blade at his neck and an arm wrapped around his chest.

"AAH!' His partner jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of the figure.

"Wha-what the?"

"Go back! Tell me about that girl!" Kage demanded.

"Wh-what girl?"

"The one with the- Don't you dare!" Kage stopped mid-sentence to warn the second guard not to press his panic button, shifting the positon of his blade against the guards neck.

The free guard dropped the device and held his arms up in surrender and Kage resumed his questioning.

"You said there was a cat faunas, who was she?"

"W-we don't know. She was just some teenager that tried to stop us that day."

"What did she look like?"

"Uh, uhm," the guard stumbled trying to bring the memory back to mind, but the sharpened object by his throat wasn't helping.

"She had black hair and I think her eyes were a yellow colour."

Kage paused, thinking over the words and matching it to the description he was given. It sounded like a match.

"Do you know where I can find her?"

"No I wouldn't have a clue! Try that orange haired guy."

"Who?"

"Uh, Sten what was his name?" The guard asked his partner.

Sten stuttered, "Uhm, Torchwick! That was it, Roman Torchwick!"

Kage eyed Sten suspiciously before feeling satisfied.

"thank you for your coopera-" Kage paused as Sten shuffled his foot.

Kage looked at the ground and found Sten's foot pressing on the panic button he dropped earlier. The guard in his arms noticed it and his eyes went wide with horror as he suddenly became very fearful for his life.

Kage eye's widened in realisation just as he heard someone yell out behind him.

"Hey!"

Kage groaned before quickly removing his sword and pushing the guard into Sten, sending them both sprawling to the ground in a terrified heap. Guards appeared in front of him and he was sure there were some behind him already. The wall of the warehouse blocked his right and another building to his left blocked him there, he was effectively being boxed in.

Then again, you can't catch what you can't see.

Kage felt his aura surge as his semblance came to life, covering him in an onyx shroud. Kage stood still as the guards slowly drew closer to him, until they realised he disappeared, which as when they stopped, confused and a little frightened.

"It's him! It's the shade!" One of them squealed.

"Shut up Piddy!" Another called.

Kage smiled to himself, he didn't mind scaring a few people here and there.

"Where is he?" Someone said, uncertainty thick within his voice.

Kage paused, he felt something shift, something unusual in the surrounding environment and when his aura flared instinctively, he leaped away from his position. He opened his eyes, throwing stealth to the wind but keeping his semblance active. Before him, in his red and crimson vision was that woman, looking at him with a smile, weapon drawn.

"You?" Kage questioned.

"Why are you still here?" She asked sweetly, casually sauntering toward him.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving." With that Kage spun around and ran straight for the line of guards before him. She made him uncomfortable, she felt strange, Kage didn't want to fight her, besides he got what he came for.

The guards ahead of him were slightly confused by the two red glowing orbs that were running toward them, but as they drew closer they opened fire. Kage ran straight into the fire, his dual swords coming up swiftly to deflect any bullet that came to close. He zig-zaged toward the line of guards and broke through it.

The unfortunate guard that he targeted tried to keep track of the two orbs as the dashed from side to side toward him, but when the lights reached him his weapon was knocked out his hand and he suddenly felt a stinging pain dance across his stomach before an object was thrust into his chest and pushed him to his feet. Just then the lights disappeared.

Kage shut his eyes as soon as the guard hit the dirt and he ran straight. The land directly ahead was flat and barren of objects for the first few meters, so he could ran it blind until he was far enough from the guards to hide in the shadows without his semblance.

As he ran he couldn't help but wonder why the woman hadn't attacked, or given chase. Something was very odd about her.

* * *

**A/N: Review? Comment? Question? Anything! You've been eerily silent for a while, I'm not sure if you are all with me.**


	7. Stressful times

**A/N" Looooooong chapter, but i was really enjoying myself with the white rose part. It was just so cute! Anyway, enjoy! Please do review.**

* * *

This was it. This was the day that Ruby acted out her plan, her resolution to their problem. The previous day they had completely forgotten their troubles and worries as they were wrapped up in the glorious time they spent with JNPR, but now it was back to reality and Ruby had a serious problem to take care of.

Weiss' father had declared war on the White Fang, something none of them really should know, but they do and because of that Ruby believes it's their responsibility as huntress's to act on it and keep the people safe before anything can happen.

Weiss made an unfortunate, yet true, point that they weren't exactly in a position to do anything themselves. They were just four girls, although that hadn't stopped them before, right now it was a very important detail. Of course Weiss and Blake were the most worried, both having a personal connection to the two sides. Weiss was frustrated and angry with her father and possibly with herself for not being able to do anything. Blake seemed to be on the other end of the spectrum, feeling worried and anxious about what exactly this all meant, not just for those involved but for herself and Weiss too.

So Ruby was trying to stop this, with the help of an old friend.

She took a deep breath just as the lift reached the top floor of Beacon tower, the headmaster's office. The doors slid open and Ruby stepped into the room as she played her request through her mind over and over.

Ozpin's chair was turned away from her as she approached and she found it strange that he hadn't already greeted her. She found it even stranger that she was the one to initiate conversation.

"Uh, Professor?"

No response.

Ruby craned her neck over the table to look at the chair, only to find it empty.

"The headmaster is not present at the moment."

Ruby jumped at the voice, spinning around to meet the person.

"Oh, Professor Goodwitch! Hi!"

"May I ask what you are doing here?" The professor asked as she stepped out of wherever she was hiding.

"I came to speak to Ozp- Professor, Ozpin."

"I see that," she said flatly, "But why?"

"Oh uh, hehe-" Ruby's plan had been foiled. The headmaster rarely left the school, where could he be?

"Just about some stuff." Goodwitch was a whole other person, Ozpin she felt comfortable telling, Ruby wasn't sure how Goodwitch would take it.

The professor blinked at the girl before her, she let out a breath of air before pressing on.

"Yes Ruby I understand that, but if you came all the way up here it's obviously important. So please, do tell."

Ruby thought it over for a moment. Goodwitch was indeed a huntress and a great one at that, she should understand Ruby's concern, right?

"Well, uh, to get to the point. Weiss' father may be planning an attack on the White Fang."

Goodwitch blinked at Ruby, "That's ridiculous."

"What?" Ruby exclaimed, "I'm serious!"

"Ruby, I don't know how well you know Mr Schnee, but he is a level headed, intelligent business man. I highly doubt he would provoke the White Fang with an attack. Besides he wouldn't even have the means to."

"Level headed? That sounds nothing like him!"

"Oh? How would you know?"

"He said it himself! Weiss heard the words come from his mouth, I'm not making this up!"

"Miss Rose, I find it strange that you would think to come all the way up here to bother the headmaster with such nonsense. To be frank, this doesn't really affect us and even if Mr Schnee was being genuine that responsibilities falls on the authorities, not us."

Goodwitch began ushering her out.

"What!? You can't be serious? Doesn't affect us? We're huntress's, we're supposed to stop things like this!"

"The White Fang and the SDC are out of our jurisdiction, we have no right to interfere."

"Yes we do! We have every right! He's putting people's lives at risk! We can't let him!"

"_We _have no part in this, but if you believe so, perhaps _you _do."

Ruby was about to ask what that meant before she was cut off.

"Miss Rose, this discussion has come to a close, please return to your dorm and please refrain from pressing this matter further."

"Wha-" Ruby was cut off by the doors of the elevator, leaving her shocked and angry.

Besides feeling angry, frustrated and confused, Ruby felt abandoned. One of the people she looked up to had just ignored her plea for help in a very serious matter. This was insane, this was wrong! What was she meant to do now? Take it into her own hands?

Ruby clenched her fist as the lift descended, if that's the way it was going to be. So be it.

* * *

Goodwitch let out a long breath she had been holding as the lift doors finally closed. That was tougher than she thought it would be, Ruby had indeed grown up and matured and was beginning to take her role as a huntress quite well, perhaps a little too well.

She turned around and walked over to Ozpin's desk.

"You did well." A voice spoke.

"Why did you have to put me in that situation?" She asked.

"Because I wouldn't have been able to send her away like that."

Goodwitch turned around as Ozpin appeared, walking over to his desk.

"Are we really doing the right thing?" She asked, her voice thick with concern.

"I believe so."

"But this sounds like a very serious matter! The White Fang are a very volatile group, if something goes wrong-"

"We will be there to stop it." Ozpin cut it. "Has there ever been a time where I've let something go wrong?"

Goodwitch knew that he never had. "It's just... You said so yourself, they're just kids."

"That was a year ago." Ozpin stated.

"One year isn't much Ozpin."

"Glynda, in one year we may not be here for them. As huntress's they need to learn that they must act on what they believe is right, what they believe is good. If their hearts are in the right place nothing anyone says should ever waver them."

"So what? You deny them assistance so that they will go on their own and put their lives at risk?"

"Our lives are always at risk." Ozpin replied simply. "I am always watching them, if I feel we need to step in, we will be there before anything else."

"Must I remind you what happened to the faunas girl? How desperately you searched for her? You may have appeared calm but I know you were far from it"

Ozpin sighed, she wasn't wrong. "I was a little doubtful, perhaps a little afraid, but I had always believed she would make it."

"Was it faith or luck Ozpin? Because we can't rely on either one forever."

"What else is worth anything in this world besides faith and hope?"

Glynda remained silent.

"Please, trust me. Have I ever once led you astray? I may seem uncaring and tough, but believe me when I say this, I care for this girls more than anything, because _they_ are the hope of the future."

* * *

"Damn woman, I can't catch a break can I?"

Roman Torchwick strolled out of their hideout for a little stress relief. He leaned against the wall and pulled out a cigar, followed by his lighter. He lit it and took a small puff and took in the familiar feeling for a moment.

Cinder had never really been the same since that night. She was never a happy loser, although she wasn't one to hold grudges. They had indeed moved on from that irritating little group of girls and were focusing on something a little, bigger, than just one team.

Torchwick smiled as he thought over all their plans. It would indeed be fun.

Neo exited the building and walked over to join him.

"Ah Neo! Come to join me hm?"

She nodded quietly.

"Still not talking huh?"

Neo shot him a look.

"Worth a shot." He said simply.

Emerald and Mercury exited next, glancing over at him but walking on past him.

"Tell me Neo, do you like those two brats?"

Torchwick watched his shorter partner as she shrugged her shoulders and made a 'so-so- gesture with her hand.

"You can't be serious? They're just spoiled little kids!"

Neo looked up at Torchwick with a look that said, 'Seriously'

"Hey don't look at me like that! I'm not a kid, I just know how to enjoy things."

Neo rolled her eyes and looked ahead.

"Speaking of brats, heard any new about those four girls?"

Neo shook her head.

"Ah, oh well. We'll get them eventually."

Neo nodded, spinning her umbrella in front of her with expertise.

"I got a score to settle with that cat!"

Neo stepped in front of him and brought her hands up to her chest, pushing her breasts up in a symbol of 'big boobs'.

Torchwick raised an eye brow at the strange behaviour before it clicked. "Ooooh, the blondie?"

Neo nodded happily.

"Why's that? She catch your fancy?" He asked cheekily.

Neo frowned and punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey! Relax! I don't mind if you swing that way, besides when I get that kitty out of the way blondie will be single."

Neo was about to punch him again except a lot harder, when she felt something and paused.

"What?" Torchwick asked noticing his partner reaction.

Neo glanced around for a moment before the feeling passed and dismissed it with a shrug and the shake of her head.

"When does Beacon have holidays? I wonder if we can meet up for a little holiday get together." He joked as he threw his spent cigar on the ground and snuffed it out.

Neo shrugged as they made their way back inside, looking over her shoulder quickly as she heard something move.

"You ok Neo? Your aren't hearing things are you? We can't have you be deaf and mute."

Neo punched him, hard.

* * *

"Did she really say that?"

"Yes! It was totally uncool and just, just urgh!"

"Ruby calm down."

"How can I calm down Weiss! She just ignored a serious matter! She's supposed to be an awesome cool huntress! Not a grumpy old hag!"

"Ruby!" Weiss warned.

"What?!"

"Don't talk like that!"

"Sorry, I'm just so, so frustrated!"

Ruby flopped over onto Weiss' bed as she ceased her pacing through their room. After her discussion with Goodwitch she returned to her dorm, thankfully Weiss was there to offer support.

"We need to do something." Ruby said suddenly. "As in, _we _need to do something."

Weiss looked at her partner. "Ruby.."

"C'mon Weiss, we've done it before when no one else did anything, how is this any different?"

"Ruby we can't just-"

"Weiss don't tell me 'we can't' or 'we shouldn't'. We _have _to! It's our responsibility!"

"Ruby I'm glad you're taking your role as a huntress seriously, but I do believe you need to slow down a little."

"Slow down! How can I-"

Weiss grabbed her hands gently and pulled them toward her.

"Ruby you're getting ahead of yourself," She said gently. "Please just slow down for a moment, at least just for now, at least until something _actual _happens."

Ruby looked at her partner, she could hear Weiss' voice and the concern that it held, those icy blue eyes soft and just as worried. How could Ruby refuse?

"Ok. Alright, for now I'll _slow _down. But you know I have a reputation for going fast?"

"Yes Ruby I'm well aware." Weiss replied as she rolled her eyes, although she knew she was smiling.

"Good. Now, let's go do something! I can't sit still right now." Ruby stated, pulling Weiss to her feet.

"Actually," Weiss said with a proud smile, "_I_ might have something planned."

Ruby felt the biggest smile spread across her cheeks.

* * *

So far their training session was going fine. Both Blake and Yang enjoyed their training sessions together. Yang got bored of the repetitive routine of being at the gym on her own and Blake just genuinely enjoyed going a few rounds with her partner.

Yang knew Blake hardly enjoyed the gym scene, so whenever they went together they opted for the dojo and spent their time sparring with each other. Of course they didn't just spar with their own abilities and skills, they alternated between different fighting styles, Yang knew for certain she would have a horrible time trying to land a single hit on her partner.

So mixed it up as best as they could, switching between had to hand, close quarters and ranged. They enjoyed testing each other and perhaps even challenging each other, a little rivalry never hurt a relationship.

But this training session Blake was becoming irritated with her partner. When they met up Yang asked her how she was feeling. To which she replied fine. But then during their session, Yang asked her another time, surprise surprise her response hadn't changed. So when Yang asked her a third time as they stopped for a break, Blake was getting frustrated.

"You know you can talk about it."

"Yes Yang I know! Why do you keep asking me!?"

"I just want to be sure."

Blake glared at her partner, her eyes narrowed as Yang simply offered her a smile. The continued on with their session. Yang decided that she would teach her partner a bit of boxing, it wasn't the first time and Yang enjoyed every lesson as much as the first. Blake's slim and nimble figure sometimes gave the impression that the faunas wasn't that strong, but Yang knew that Blake was by far the second strongest in their team, of course she was the first.

But Blake could indeed pack a punch, and her agility and speed made her a very tough opponent in the ring. But the ring was Yang's domain so she wasn't going down easily.

They started off slow, light-almost playful- jabs as they circled each other. Blake kept her arms up in front of her while Yang was more care free and let her hands move freely by her side, lifted them up in time when she needed to. The two were a stark contrast in the ring, which was no surprise if you knew them both.

As they moved on in their fight, punches grew harder and things grew tenser. Especially when Yang started to speak.

"You know," She ducked under a jab. "all you have to do is just talk."

Blake groaned as she threw another punch, "Yang I promise you I'm fine."

"You don't have to act." Yang blocked a hook.

"I'm not acting!" Blake stated, holding back a growl.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Positive?"

"Yes!"

"Blake."

"I'M FINE!"

Blake erupted and lashed out with her fist harder than she had meant to, her frustration getting the better of her. Her fist slammed into Yang's shoulder and the blonde stumbled back, forcing herself to ignore the pain.

Blake's chest heaved up and down as anger surged through her veins and her pulse increased. She looked at her partner and she knew she should apologise.

"I-I'm sorry."

Yang held up a gloved hand to stop her, "No it's fine. Here come at me again."

Blake shot her a questioning look.

"Yeah, c'mon I can take more than a few hits. Get it out of your system, don't bottle it up."

"Yang I'm no-" Blake was about to protest but Yang rushed at her and she was forced to quickly step out of the way.

Yang planted her heel as she felt Blake dodge her and spun around to face her partner and lunge toward her with her left hand balled into a fist. Blake swiftly stepped to the side as she palmed the fist away from her, taking a few steps away from her partner.

"Yang what are you-"

"C'mon Blake, get serious."

_'What is she doing?' _Blake thought to herself.

Yang charged at her again, swinging her arm around but this time Blake held her ground and knocked the arm away with her right arm and brought it around for a quick counter with her elbow. But before she could Yang lifted her knee up and brought it into her stomach. Blake stumbled away with the wind knocked out of her, her anger from before slowly bubbling back to the surface.

"I'm telling you Blake, you have to let it out."

_'Let what out?!" _Blake thought to herself.

Yang ran toward her, this time leaping into the air a few feet from her and lashing out with her foot. Blake brought her arms up to cover her face and was pushed back as Yang's foot slammed against her arms. Blake skidded backward and Yang didn't hesitate to press on. Yang approached her and pivoted on her heel to bring her foot around in a turning kick. Blake swiftly leaned back just enough for the limb to pass by her harmlessly but Yang quickly recovered and rushed toward her with her knee coming up toward her stomach.

Blake brought her hands down to palm the knee away, bringing her left arm back up in time to deflect a punch. Blake quickly lashed out with her free hand, her fist slamming against Yang's face with a solid smack. Blake felt the brawlers warm aura react to the punch and for a moment realised she was actually fighting her partner. But before she could do anything Yang was advancing on her.

"C'mon Blakey don't hold back."

Blake waited for Yang with her arms held in front of her, for some reason still believing they were boxing. Yang showed no mercy. Yang suddenly dropped to her knees before Blake, sliding past her unexpectedly and throwing her arm out to buckle Blake' leg. Blake feel to her knees just as Yang spun to her feet, her leg coming around in a powerful kick to slam straight into the side of Blake's head.

Blake fell to the floor, her head swimming and her body pulsing with rage. What was Yang doing? Why was she acting like this? Why!? Blake tried to get up but her head was swimming and she fell back over.

"Blake I know your angry, I know your frustrated and worried and scared. But you can't keep pretending you're not. You need to let it out. The White Fang, Weiss, her father, the dust, Adam. I know it's all troubling you, so please just let it out."

Blake groaned, she was right. All of it, it all made her angry. The White Fang's hatred made her angry. The things they have done made her angry. The things _she _had done made her angry. Adam made her angry, Weiss made her angry, Weiss' dad made her angry. Right now Yang was making her angry, she was making herself angry. She was angry at being scared, angry at being worried, angry at being caught in her past, angry at the world for being so messed up! She was angry at being angry!

Blake growled angrily as she stormed to her feet, rushing Yang and summoning a clone to propel her toward her partner. Blake's left fist swung around and slammed into Yang's chin, followed by her right hand. Blake spun around and her foot smacked Yang's head to the side before another clone pushed her forward and her fist slammed into Yang's chest.

Yang flew to the floor as she was tossed around quite embarrassingly, sliding on her rear before bumping against the wall. She shook the dizziness away from her vision and looked up at her partner. Blake was panting furiously and her brow and forehead was lined with sweat. Her face was flushed red with what no doubt was anger and her hands were balled into tight fists.

But the she blinked and realised what she had done.

"Yang!" In an instant her demeanor did a flip.

She was by her partners side in an instant, flinging her gloves off so that she could gently hold Yang's head and cheek her face for injuries.

"I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean to-"

"Blake it's fine. I wanted you to do that."

Blake's eyes frantically scanned her partners face, and Yang was now feeling hurt, but only because those amber eyes were thick with guilt and worry.

"You wanted me to…"

Yang nodded simply as she sat up.

"You wanted me to beat you up?"

"Well when you put it that way…" Yang scratched the back of her with a chuckle.

"Blake I knew you were boiling in the inside, these past few days have obviously been stressful for you and I don't care what you say or even if you speak to Luna, you tell me otherwise. I know you're a quite girl but sometime you have to talk, especially to the ones that love you."

"Yang I-"

"Now please tell me," Yang got to her feet with a painful groan, "You feel at least a little less stressed. I'd rather not go through that again."

Blake blinked for a moment, flexing her fingers and suddenly realising that she did feel somewhat lighter.

"Yeah. Thank you Yang."

"No problem Blakey! But maybe I shouldn't have taught you how to throw a punch so well."

"I'm that good huh?" Blake asked, a smile slowly reaching the tips of her mouth.

"Don't get a head of yourself. Besides you cheated, you used your semblance."

Blake had no response to that, except one thing.

"Fine then. Rematch." She challenged smugly.

Yang eyed her partner with a grin, "Rematch huh?" the brawler cracked her knuckles.

"Ding ding! Round two babe."

* * *

Ruby had no idea where they were going, nor did she care. She was more than ecstatic that Weiss had something 'planned' and whatever that meant Ruby was sure it would be amazing. Weiss was having a hard time remembering why she was doing this as her patience was wearing thin as Ruby had latched into her arm and was jumping up and down in anticipation, rocking the heiress quite a bit.

"Ruby please, calm down."

"Calm down? How can I calm down? This is going to be amazing!"

Weiss was suddenly feeling what she could only describe as pressure. "You don't even know what it is."

"It doesn't matter! It's from you so it has to be awesome!" Ruby stated sweetly.

"Oh I'm flattered." Weiss dead-panned in good nature.

Ruby giggled, "C'mon Weiss, it's true!"

"Well in any case, please stop shaking me around, I need my arm firmly secured in its socket thank you."

"Sorry." Ruby stated softly.

The way the red head said it made Weiss wince a little, she sounded so small and fragile.

"It's fine." Weiss responded. After a moment Weiss suggested something.

"Why don't you just hold my hand like this," Weiss took Ruby's hand and intertwined their fingers together, smiling as she felt that familiar warmth she fell in love with dance around her fingers.

Weiss looked at Ruby and noticed she was looking at her gleefully with big bright silver eyes, Weiss cheeks reddened and she looked away.

"What? It's just more elegant that you yanking on my arm like a brute." She stated sharply.

"Uh huh, of course it is." Ruby replied with a smile, tickling the top side of Weiss' hand with her fingers.

They walked hand in hand for the rest of the journey to Weiss' destination. Ruby had no clue where they were headed, but Weiss knew she had been here before but she had taken an alternate route so Ruby wouldn't notice.

When they arrived Ruby was dumbfounded, she didn't recognise the area either, but that was probably because it was covered in a light layer of snow as it somehow fell from the sky. Ruby's mouth fell open as she gawked over the scene.

"W-W-Weiss?"

"Yes Ruby?" She, laughing softly at her partner reaction.

"It-it's snowing. How's it snowing?"

Weiss pointed up at something in the sky and Ruby's breath hitched as she found a huge glyph peacefully turning above them, snowflakes gently falling from it.

"Weiss! You can make it snow!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I can now."

"Wha- this is amazing! This is this best! I love snow! It's my favourite thing in the whole world! Except cookie, but that might change since it's your snow!"

Ruby let go of Weiss' hand, unfortunately, and moved to stand under the glyph and jump up and down in the snow, laughing and gasping in amazement.

"I'm glad you like it." Weiss stated with a smile she couldn't remove.

"Like it? I LOVE IT! Oh you're the best girlfriend ever!"

Ruby jumped over to Weiss and pulled her by the hands, jumping and spinning her around.

"You do realise where this place is do you?"

Ruby paused and looked around, stopping as she gazed toward the horizon.

"Hey this is where we watched the sunset before isn't it?"

"Mhmm."

Ruby gasped, "Huuh! Does that mean!"

She spun around to look at the river behind her. She squealed in delight as she found it be frozen solid.

"Oh my gosh! Can we go-" Ruby turned to Weiss by was cut off when she saw what the heiress was holding.

Weiss laughed as Ruby's jaw dropped for a second time.

"Skating?" The heiress asked as she hefting the two pairs of skates in her hand.

"Oh my gosh I love you!"

Ruby tackled Weiss to the ground, luckily the snow had formed a nice thick layer. Weiss' heart leapt for joy every time she heard Ruby's sweet laugh and she hoped she would never stop hearing it. Ruby lifted herself out of the snow and looked down at Weiss.

"You are the bestest best person in the whole world!" Ruby planted what felt like a hundred kisses all over Weiss cheeks and lips and nose.

Weiss laughed and squealed as she thrashed her head around and Ruby had an odd realisation that this must be what Zwei felt like at times.

"Ruby! Please! Ge-hmmm!"

"Mwah!"

Ruby left her face a few inched from Weiss' and Weiss' vision was filled with Ruby's beautiful smile and gleaming silver eyes and there was no way in her life time that Weiss would ever be able to put how she felt into words. All she could say is she was thankful her heart didn't burst then and there.

"C'mon let's skate."

Ruby pulled her to her feet and they quickly put their skates on. Luckily both of them knew how to skate and they a blissful time sliding past each other gracefully and skating hand in hand. Weiss was sure that neither of them stopped smiling for a single second that afternoon.

The pair entered a spin and Ruby was laughing happily as she spun her partner round and round, but soon Weiss got a bad feeling.

"Uh Ruby?" She asked nervously.

They kept spinning faster.

"Ruby!"

Of course, Ruby jolted in surprise at the call at let go of Weiss' hands. The heiress screamed as she was sent soaring off of the frozen lake and landed in a heap of snow a few meters from Ruby. Ruby lost control and spun and out and landed roughly on her bottom, quickly scrambling to her feet to check on her partner. Weiss picked the wrong day to wear her white dress and white thigh high boots, she blended in with the snow and Ruby almost lost her.

"Weiss?! Weiss I'm so sorry! Please don't be too angry!"

Weiss remained still, head buried in the snow.

"Weiss?"

Weiss' arm moved first, she planted her palms against the ground before she slowly pushed herself up. She sat up in silence next to Ruby, slowly draping her arm around Ruby's shoulders.

"Hehe, Weiss?"

Suddenly Weiss forced Ruby down into the ground, smothering her into the snow. Ruby squealed and her following yells were muffled by the snow.

Weiss smiled smugly to herself as she felt her partner struggle under her palm before releasing her.

"Gah! Weiss! What the he-"

Ruby was cut off by a pile of snow that flew into her face. Ruby quickly wiped it away and looked at her partner. Weiss was standing over, hefting a snowball in her left hand and sporting a rather childish smile.

"Do you dare challenge the ice queen?" She said coolly.

Ruby's eyes widened before they hardened and she rose to her feet.

"Oh I d- Blah!" Ruby fell to the floor again. "Hey I hadn't even accepted the challenge!"

"The ice queen plays by no rules!" Weiss declared, already readying another snow ball.

The 'ice queen' pegged the ball at Ruby but Ruby quickly dashed out the way and had her own snow ball soaring straight toward Weiss. Weiss took the hit but managed to stay on her feet.

"But will you ever manage to hit the crimson flash?"

Weiss paused at the title and was unfortunate enough to take another snow ball.

"Crimson flash? Really?"

Ruby's cheeks, ironically, went a light shade of crimson. "Hey! Don't break character!"

Surely enough Weiss couldn't hit the crimson flash, she was just too fast. But neither could the crimson leader get past the ice queens impenetrable defence of glyphs. They were both equally matched, or were they? For Weiss was _the _ice queen after all.

"Ruby Rose!" Weiss called.

Ruby paused after she dashed to the side, she had her hood drawn over her head and she looked to her opponent. Weiss held her hand up high in the air, a defiant look in her eye.

"Fall!"

Ruby wasn't sure what she meant but the glyph that appeared beside was definitely not a good thing. Ruby dashed away just as a burst of snow exploded from the glyph. She shrieked as more glyphs appeared as they chased her around the field. She even ran over the frozen river, almost falling over, but the glyphs kept coming. She heard Weiss cackle evilly and perhaps felt she was too involved in being the ice queen.

In fact Weiss was just playing with Ruby, there was that giant glyph above them that covered the entire area.

"Ruby." She called calmly.

Ruby paused, huffing and puffing and looked at the heiress. Weiss simply pointed up and Ruby followed the instruction. She looked to the sky just as a huge blanket of snow fell on top of her.

Ruby's world went dark as the snow covered her from head to toe, before she shook her head and pushed the snow away from her head. She found the so called, 'ice queen' laugh hysterically. Ruby blinked as she watched her partner slap her knee and bend over from laughter. Weiss tried to make words but she was consumed by her laughing fit.

It was a rather funny sight. Ruby covered in snow up to her neck with her arms sticking out to the side somehow and a look of utter bewilderment written across her features. The adorably cute squeal she let out before the snow hit her kept replaying in Weiss' mind and served to keep her laughing.

After a moment Ruby felt a giggle reach her and before she knew it she was laughing just as much as Weiss. It _was _funny after all.

Words could not describe how happy that afternoon made Ruby. Her heart was brimming with joy and happiness as danced around in the snow with the love of her life and of course all her troubles were just a speck far on the horizon. Both of them were sure they had never enjoyed themselves this much before, Weiss was especially certain.

The sun began to set and a small fire was quickly made and Ruby's jaw dropped one last time that night as Weiss produced a bag of marshmallows and-

"Cookies!"

"Well I thought traditional smores were a little cliché, plus I was curious to see how cookies would hold up in a campfire."

Honestly, this day couldn't get any better.

They watched the sunset lying in each other's arms with Jerry, the snowman, behind them.

"Weiss?"

Weiss hummed softly. Ruby's head was lying in her lap and Weiss was gently playing with her hair. Ruby turned over so she was looking up at Weiss.

"You sing don't you?" Ruby asked softly.

Weiss was slightly shocked. The topic had never come up before, then again she never mentioned it and neither did anyone else.

"Yes a little."

"A little?"

"Yes Ruby I sing."

"Can you?"

"What do you mean? Now?"

Ruby nodded cutely, "Pleeease?"

Weiss sighed, "I suppose so. But what?"

Ruby shrugged, "Anything, I'm sure it will be beautiful."

Ruby rolled back over to watch the sun make its final steps below the horizon. Weiss followed her gaze and took a breath.

"Long ago, before we met, I dreamed about you…."

* * *

"Getting a little cocky Blake?"

"I don't get cocky, I get better."

"Oh I that right? Prove it."

Blake rushed forward, zig-zagging in an attempt to throw Yang off, but the blonde met the attack evenly. She quickly countered with a jab but Blake had already back flipped away, landing in a crouch and pouncing forward. Yang swung her fist around to meet the faunas but Blake had slid to her knees and past her. Yang felt a foot slam into her back and push her forward. She stumbled and turned around, grinning widely at Blake.

"Not bad."

"Thanks."

Yang made her charge and Blake was ready, but her ears pricked up at something. Blake dropped her guard and looked away from Yang, Yang noticed and pulled her punch at the last moment. But even then it was still a hefty punch. Her fist contacted the bottom of Blake's chin and rocked the faunas to the side.

"Shit! Sorry!" Yang picked her partner up off the floor, filling with guilt.

"It's fine, it's fine." Blake brushed her off, still looking around the room.

"What is it Blake?"

Yang watched her cat ears twitch and move around, Blake's eyes mimicking them.

"Someone's here."

"Blake Belladonna?" A voice called, startling Yang.

"Who's asking?"

"I'm very confused. I saw someone exactly like you, except she had black eyes."

Kage stepped out of now where, somehow appearing out of the corner of the room. Only then did Blake and Yang realise the sun was down and the dojo was almost in complete darkness. Yang stepped in front of Blake, her protective streak taking over, but Blake quickly stepped in front of her.

"Black eyes? What does that mean? Who are you?" Blake asked, ignoring the sweat running over her face.

"Kage Odoriko, I've been looking for Blake Belladonna for a while. I presume you are her?"

"You're not wrong."

"Hey wait. What was that you said about seeing her with black eyes?" Yang asked, a memory stirring within her.

"She looked exactly like her, but with the black eyes and a very disturbing presence."

"That's impossible." Blake stated.

"No, no I don't think so." Yang said, suddenly seeming very distant.

"Yang?"

"I didn't want to tell you at the time because I wanted to forget but, the night you went missing I thought I had found you but it wasn't you. She looked like you, sounded like you but wasn't you. She was a clone, a dark clone."

Blake looked at Yang, the look in those lilac eye's worrying her.

"That doesn't make sense how can-" Then Blake remembered. That night she summoned two clones as she absorbed that crystal.

"Oh no."

* * *

**A/N: There are probs mistakes, sorry hehe, I'll fix them later lol. Also how did we all like Ozpin this chapter? Let me know. Also I hope you enjoyed the snow scene as much as I did.**


	8. Deja vu

"You know who she is?" Kage asked as he approached the girls.

"I know _what _she is." Blake answered, "She's a clone."

"Yeah but don't tell her that, she doesn't like to be reminded." Yang stated, remembering her talk with the clone.

"Where did you see her?" Blake asked.

"I met her at one of the White Fang's hideouts while I was looking for you. She appears to have joined forces with Adam."

"Adam?"

"You know him?"

Blake nodded quietly. "What was she doing?"

"I have no clue, when I saw her she was just messing around, I don't know what her and Adam have done so far."

There was a pause in the conversation, the dojo filled with silence as the sunlight continued to fade.

"Who are you anyway?" Yang asked, realising they hadn't really found out.

"I've been looking for Blake for a while now."

"Looking for me? Why?"

"That I don't know, I just follow orders."

"Order's? Whose orders?"

"My leader's."

"You're not from Vale are you?" Blake questioned.

Kage nodded in confirmation, "I'm from Vacuo."

"Well I'm sorry but I can't help you right now, I have a lot to deal with and apparently it seems there's more than I had thought." Blake stated.

Kage held his hands up, "That's fine. I can help."

"Help? We don't even know you let alone trust you." Yang stated. "Besides, we don't necessarily need your help."

"You may, if you ever meet that 'clone'." Kage replied.

"We should head back. Follow us." Blake commanded, making her way back to their dorm.

* * *

"So what we know so far is that she's a clone like Luna, except she can exist without you because the dust somehow made her independent?"

Blake nodded, as far as she knew that was correct.

"Well, how powerful can she possibly be? She shouldn't be too hard to fight." Yang stated.

"When I fought her she was pretty strong, she isn't one to take lightly."

"Do you have any idea why she joined the White Fang?" Blake asked.

"No. She seemed free spirited, doing as she pleased for no other reason than she could. It's strange, she may be a clone but she is very life like."

Blake sighed and rubbed her eyes. This didn't make sense, her semblance isn't meant to do these things. Even with dust this shouldn't be possible, should it?

"And there's all this stuff with Weiss' dad happening now too. Great."

Speak of the devil, Ruby and Weiss stepped through the door.

When they walked in they took notice of the strange, dark figure standing over Blake and Yang and their hands flew straight to their weapons. Weiss removed Myrtenaster swiftly from her side and Crescent Rose was pulled out in its rifle form, the barrel pointed straight at Kage's head.

"Woah woah!"

"Who's that?" Ruby questioned.

"It's okay, he's friendly. I think." Blake reassured, a little uncertain.

Kage smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. Ruby and Weiss exchanged glances before slowly returning their weapons.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked.

"Kage Odoriko."

"Kage Odoriko?" Weiss repeated, "Shadow dancer?" she translated.

Kage smiled and nodded, "Yep, you'll see where I got my name from later on."

"What are you doing here?" Ruby continued.

"I came looking for Blake, but it seems you four have some troubles that need to be dealt with before she can do anything."

"What do you want with Blake?" Ruby asked, slightly alarmed but her voice remained steady.

Kage sighed, how many times did he have to explain this? "I don't want her, my leader does."

"Leader wha-"

"Ruby he isn't really important right now." Blake interrupted.

"Okay, so what is?" Weiss asked, sensing something was up.

"The White Fang may have gotten a little more complicated."

* * *

"Well there isn't much to be said or done is there?" Weiss stated. "At worst the White Fang have merely gained an additional member, it doesn't change much in the grand scheme of things."

"She can cause us trouble." Yang pointed out.

"That's true, but when has 'trouble' ever affected us?"

"Good point."

"This just doesn't make sense." Blake spoke, "my semblance isn't capable of doing this, how can she be alive?"

Weiss looked at her teammate, the faunas was clearly confused and distressed, she was no doubt in a troubled position.

"To say she's alive may be a bit farfetched. She could simply just be existing, just as a being not a person. Kage could you sense her aura?" Weiss asked.

Kage thought the question over for a moment. "Aura may be the wrong word, but I definitely felt something strange."

"Blake does Luna have an aura?" Yang asked.

"Luna? I don't think she does, if she did it would be my aura because when I summon her I supply her with aura so that she can move around. If I don't she kinda just explodes, which is what happened the first time I tried to summon her."

Then something clicked within Blake's mind.

"Wait, I think I got it. With Luna she needs a constant connection to my aura to exist, she _needs _aura. This other clone should too."

"Ok, but she obviously isn't getting any from you so how is she still around?" Yang asked, frowning in confusion.

"That night, when I used that dust crystal I summoned the clones because I had absorbed too much of the dust within my aura, so the clones acted as an off load. But the connection I have with Luna goes two ways, back and forth, so if I wanted to offload some of my aura I would have had to make it a one way connection. Out only." Blake explained.

"So basically you did what I did with that necklace I made Weiss." They turned to Ruby as she spoke.

"You bundled your aura and instead of putting it in a necklace, you put it into a clone. What confuses me about that is I still had a connection to the necklace, you have no connection to this clone."

"Maybe she's blocking Blake out without her realising." Weiss suggested.

"That's a possibility." Kage agreed.

"OK so we figured out how, what now?" Yang asked.

"If I can get that connection back, I should be able to get rid of her." Blake stated.

"But she told me she's made of all of your bad parts, wouldn't connecting back to that hurt you?" Yang asked, everyone knew she was already concerned.

"That might be true, but I can't just leave her like this. Besides, I was doing fine before I made her."

* * *

"Sir! Our leader has called, he requests your presence!"

Adam looked over the man before him, a messenger.

"Did he say what for?" Adam asked, already making his way to the comms room.

"No sir, he said it was urgent."

Adam nodded and quickened his pace. As he walked someone appeared beside him, a woman, with cat ears.

"Good evening." She said with a smile.

"Your back?"

"I found out what that boy wanted." She said proudly.

"What is it?"

"Guess who he was looking for?"

"I don't have time for games!"

"Ok alright! He was looking for Blake and it seems he has found her."

Adam paused, "Blake? Blake Belladonna?"

Raven nodded.

"Why?"

Raven shrugged.

Adam remained silent for a moment. "I don't have time for this, wait here, don't go too far."

"Gladly."

Adam pushed the thought of Blake as far from his mind as possible as he finally reached the communications room and stepped inside.

"Sir?"

"It seems our old friend is doing something peculiar."

"We have a lot of old friends sir." Adam stated, issuing a light chuckle from his leaders mouth.

"Mr Schnee, is who I am referring to."

"Ah."

"For some strange reason he has decided to fill a train with those dust crystals we have boxed up from two years ago and he's sending the train along the line that crosses through Forever Fall. I don't suppose you have forgotten about that line."

"No sir, I haven't." Adam replied, pushing the memory down.

"You think he would have learnt, which only adds to his strange behaviour. He seems to have sent his youngest daughter, Winter Schnee, along with the train as well."

Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Has he gone mad?" Adam asked. His leaders laugh reached through the vid screen once more.

"Possibly, or he could be drawing us out, either way I'm not missing this opportunity. It may be a trap but I'm sure you can handle it. I want you to lead a squad, board that train, kill the Schnee and bring back that cargo, but be wary, there has to be a catch."

"Understood."

"Oh and Adam."

"Yes sir?"

"Who is this new woman you have recruited, she looks oddly familiar."

"Honestly sir, I have no idea."

Adam left the room and was met by Raven.

"So?"

"We're stealing a train."

"Again? Excellent!"

"Again?"

"Same memories remember?" Raven tapped the side of her head. "What's on this train?"

"Those dust crystals you love so much and Winter Schnee. We kill one and take the other."

"Oooh, Winter Schnee. Weiss isn't going to be happy about that."

"Weiss?"

"Oh, just an old friend."

* * *

It was dark. So dark. She couldn't see anything, even with her faunas senses. This darkness was different, it wasn't just the absence of light, it was the absence of everything.

Blake looked around, or she thought she did. She wasn't sure if her body was moving. Fear slowly began creeping up within her. Suddenly she felt something wash over her, something heavy, something dark.

A laugh rang out around her and she searched desperately for the source.

"Isn't this just great? You're no longer needed Blake, I can remove you and feel whole again!"

Suddenly Luna appeared before her, shining bright in this ominous darkness and for a moment Blake thought she was the one speaking, but as she looked at her she jerked forward suddenly, a blade jutting from her chest, and collapsed to the floor.

Behind her stood Raven, a wicked smile on her face and blade in hand. She walked toward Blake and Blake's hand went to Gamboul Shroud but it wasn't where it should be at her back.

Blake's heart beat faster as she suddenly felt very vulnerable and weak.

"Thank you for this freedom Blake. It's feels amazing. Oh Adam says hello."

Blake took a step back and in the blink of an eye Raven had her hand around Blake's neck and had lifted her into the air.

"The aura you gave me was plenty," Raven squeezed harder, "But you can never have too much of a good thing."

Blake's breath hitched as she felt a strangle tingle at her neck. Her body shuddered and she began to lose strength within her arms as she tried to break free. Blake felt her aura pulse within her before it began to wriggle within her and fade away.

Raven laughed as Blake yelled out in agony. Although it was a slow, constant process Blake felt as if parts of her were being violently ripped out of her, without a care as to what was ripped out with it. Blake continued to struggle, thrashing her feet around uselessly. Her vision blacked and blurred and she suddenly felt light and empty.

"N-no." She groaned. "I-I am b-better than you."

Raven's eyes widened momentarily before she smiled wickedly.

"Blake my dear, you've known for a long time that your dark side is your best side, if only you had embraced it. But now, _I _ am you dark side."

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

* * *

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Raven frowned and even Blake was confused.

"Hello?"

That was Weiss' voice.

Suddenly Raven was gone and the darkness was replaced with the dim light of dawn. Blake blinked and found herself in her bed.

_'Just a dream?' _

Blake drowsily blinked her eyes open to find Weiss across from her, sitting up in her bed with her scroll to her ear.

"Mum?" The heiress said groggily.

There was a pause and slowly everyone else was waking up.

Weiss practically exploded, shooting out of her bed in the blink of an eye.

"Wait wait! What train?"

…..

"That bastard!Gah! Mum, don't worry, I'll get her."

Weiss closed off the call and ran to the closest. She pulled her dress out of the closest and wasted no time getting changed, throwing her gown off then and there and putting her dress on just as fast.

"Weiss what's going on?" Ruby asked, still rubbing her eyes open.

"Winter's in trouble." Weiss answered, practically running out of their room.

"Whah? Weiss! Wait!"

Ruby called after her partner, jumping from her bed and running out the door after her. The red head quickly returned to their room and ran to the wardrobe to get her dress.

"Ruby what's going on?" Yang asked as she jumped from her bed.

"I have no clue, but we have to catch up to Weiss."

The rest of them got dressed faster than they ever had before, running out of their room as they still buckled the final parts of their outfits. Ruby hoped down the hall as she pulled her boots on before she shot down the hallway after her partner. Blake and Yang where left behind as they tried to keep up.

Ruby followed the heiress as she raced through the dorms to get outside. Ruby saw Weiss step outside and immediately summon a glyph and jump on top of it.

"Weiss no!"

Ruby's semblance sparked and launched her toward the heiress and just before her glyph fired Ruby tackled her around the waist.

"Ruby!"

"Weiss slow down!"

"Ruby get off me!" Weiss pried at Ruby's arms, desperation slowly growing within her. "Ruby!"

"Weiss just explain what's going on."

"I don't have time! Winter is in trouble!"

"Just tell us so we can help! Weiss!"

Weiss stopped struggling long enough to look at Ruby and for some reason she calmed down a little. Blake and Yang finally caught up with them outside of Beacon, just as the sun began to rise above the horizon.

Weiss looked between her teammates as she continued to feel more and more desperate, but Ruby's pleading eyes forced her to slow down.

"My father has made his move and he's using Winter as bait to draw the White Fang out."

"What?! Where?"

"On a train that's going to pass through Forever Fall! So I have to move right now!"

Weiss escaped Ruby's grasp and started running before Blake's voice stopped.

"Weiss wait! I know a shortcut."

* * *

**A/N: I don't even...**


	9. Choice

**A/N: I'm curious, who do you guys think is the beast and the shade?**

* * *

Blake led her team through Forever Fall in the dim light of the beginning of the day. She knew this path all too well, the memory of that day burnt into her mind, imbedded there forever. They ran behind her, Weiss sticking close by with Ruby and Yang at the rear, this was it, this was the day Blake had been dreading.

The day she would have to choose.

Weiss' father has made his move against the White Fang and just as Blake assumed, they are all involved. Yang, Ruby, Weiss, Adam, they are all bound to be involved in this mess and Blake would be torn. Torn between the saving the one she loved, or protecting those she loves now.

Blake's palms were sweaty and her heart was racing as she ran past that rock she had sat on that day two years ago. Where she sat and anxiously contemplated the decision she would make a few moments after she left the rock. A decision that changed her life and brought her back here. But now she had no time to contemplate, now wasn't about her, it was about Weiss and her sister.

Yet as she looked at the boulder she couldn't help but pause. As she stared at the rock one question continued to play through her mind, over and over.

_Can he be saved?_

She wanted to believe he could, she wanted to be the one to bring him back. But no matter how long she thought of the question, no matter how much she yearned for herself to believe he could be saved, there was always a part of her that would tell her he was lost.

"Blake. What's wrong? Hurry up."

Weiss' voice pulled Blake back to the present and the faunas quickly continued to lead her team, but they weren't far from where they had to be.

They emerged from the tree line at the lip of a large cliff that ran all the way down to the black train line that cut through the forest. As Blake stared down the cliff unto the train line images from that day continued to plague her mind and she shook her head in frustration as she attempted to squelch the thoughts.

"There's the track." She announced, pointing her finger toward the black line that continued behind the crimson trees of the forest.

The red leaves that fell appeared black in the slowly growing light, the sun was yet to rise above the horizon.

"The train should be coming from that direction."

Blake turned to her left, motioning toward the thin track that could just be seen in the distance, at which moment a dark train appeared. Weiss' eyes widened momentarily before they became stern and steady, her hand clenching around Myrtenaster hilt.

"We should wait up here for the train to-"

Blake was cut short as the heiress wasted no time, leaping from the top of the hill and soaring down toward the tracks. Weiss summoned a line of glyphs below her where she landed, she glided gracefully along the line gaining speed, disregarding the fact that the train was still meters up the track.

When she reached the bottom of the hill she jumped up into the air, spinning her body around so that she was facing the train and summoning a glyph below her feet. Ruby watched as her partner carelessly glided down the hill, reach the bottom, jump onto another glyph and shoot off with amazing force toward the oncoming train. The boom from the glyph reached Ruby's ears just after she gave chase.

Weiss soared through the air, throwing caution into the wind as the only thought that filled her mind was getting her sister off the train as soon as possible. Her father be damned for what he has done, or she would personally make sure he realised the consequences of his heartless actions.

The trains locomotive whizzed past under her feet, and her boots scraped along the roof of the first cart as she touched down hastily. Her momentum slid her to the edge off the roof where she flipped off and landed on an open flat-bed cart. Wasting no time, she spun around and ran to check the first carriage.

A glyph pushed the door open but revealed it to be filled with only crates and boxes. Weiss spun around and moved to the next carriage. She held onto the glyph and brought it up in front of her before the door and with a twist of her fingers the glyph slammed the door open. Another crate filled carriage. Weiss growled as she ran forward onto the third carriage.

Once again the door flew open but this time it wasn't empty, no it was filled with Atlesian Knights. The droids were facing away from Weiss, perhaps predicting an attack from the rear of the train rather than the front, immediately spinning around with their weapons primed.

Weiss' eyes widened as she realised they weren't holding back and brought her glyph in front of her just in time to block a barrage of bullets. She spun around and made to retreat, only to find the carriage behind her crawling with knights, in her haste she must have missed them hiding behind the boxes. Weiss looked over her shoulder to find the drones rushing at her with blades extending from their 'wrists'.

Weiss flicked her rapier free in time to deflect more rounds coming from her front before her aura tingled and she instinctively jumped up, dodging an attack from behind her. She back flipped onto the roof of the third carriage, the drones raising their weapons and firing at her. She quickly jumped over the knights onto the roof in front of her making her way back toward the flat-bed at the front of the train. She jumped back down onto the flat-bed just as a few of the drones exited the cart to meet her.

A glyph formed before her and released a barrage of icy projectiles that cleaved through the drones easily, but the drones behind them moved to the sides out of the way. As the drones all moved simultaneously to evade the projectiles, they created a straight opening that ran the length of the two box-carts before her. Weiss' quick thinking produced a rather amazing idea.

She crouched low, two glyphs appearing by her sides, another by her feet. Dust ejected from Myrtenaster canister and coloured the glyphs by her side a matching colour to her eyes. Weiss grunted softly as her aura readied her semblance and her lips drew back into a determined line. The whirring of the glyph at her feet ceased and in an instant she was gliding through the two carriages in the blink of an eye.

As she glided through the two carts, passing by all the present Atlesian Knights, the glyphs positioned by her sides spun brilliantly and her semblance activated. As Weiss glided through the carts ice spewed from the two glyphs without mercy, basking the entirety of the interior in an icy rage. From where Ruby was watching the train as she slid down the hill, she was stunned to see the first two carts explode as ice panned along the carts and tore through metal and steel, throwing debris into the forest beside it.

Weiss was not happy.

* * *

Weiss reached the fourth carriage after destroying the previous two carts in an amazingly brutal fashion. She didn't even give a second glance to the carriages behind her, she was just glad she didn't destroy the train itself.

A flick of her wrist brought Myrtenaster around and had the door in front of her swinging open on its hinges. This cart wasn't empty, neither was it filled with boxes or Atlesian Knights.

"Winter!"

"Weiss!"

Winter was sitting in the middle of the cart, although not tied up or restrained, there were two droids standing by her side. She too was facing away from Weiss and was straining her neck to look at her sister over her shoulder. The two knights spun around but their heads were sliced right off in an instant.

"Weiss!"

Winter sprung out of her seat and threw her arms over her sister's shoulders.

"Weiss what the hell's going on?"

"Don't worry about it, we have to get off this train."

"And out of this cart."

Ruby appeared by Weiss' side, Crescent Rose unfurled and ready. Weiss looked at her partner with a questioning look, but her question never lift her lips before the opposite door flung open and more knights spewed in.

"Ruby we can take a few knights." Weiss stated calmly.

"We aren't just facing knights."

Blake and Yang let Ruby dash ahead to catch up to Weiss, while they hung back at the rear. They ran across the two carts that Weiss had all but obliterated, Yang looked over at Blake and mouthed a silent, 'wow' as she took in the destruction, all the obliterated robot parts and jagged spikes of ice and shredded metal.

Ahead of them Ruby appeared and turned to them and was waving and pointing at something above the carriage she was standing at. Blake and Yang looked in the direction their leader motioned to and could just see the top of a spider droid idly waiting by. Yang looked over at Blake and they shared a thought and nodded in agreement before Yang turned to her sister and shot her a thumbs up.

The bumblebee pair jumped onto the roof of the carriage just as the spider droid decided to turn around and point it's cannons down toward the carriage that Ruby, Weiss and possibly Winter were occupying.

They could hear a whirring noise over the constant clicking of the wheels of the train, coming from the cannons of the droid. Yang looked over at Blake and made a pulling motion with her hands. Blake immediately understood, removing Gamboul Shroud from its sheath and throwing the scythe toward Yang. They spread out across the roof of the cart, the ribbon unravelling between them and when they reached the edge of the cart they leapt into the air.

The black ribbon passed under the barrel of the now glowing cannon, and Blake used her clones to push herself over to Yang's side, effectively rapping the ribbon around the cannon. Just before the droid fired, Blake met Yang in the air and summoned a clone to push her downward, Yang fired her gauntlets to achieve the same. The pair pulled with all their might as the ribbon went taught around the cannon, yanking the barrel to the side as it fired.

"What do you me-"

Weiss was cut off, yet again, as a terrifying blast ripped through the roof of the cart and curved down and off to the side. The beam carved a portion of the roof and the wall free, letting air rush in to the cart as the train moved down the track.

The spider droid stumbled to the side, swivelling its upper body to face the more immediate threat that was the black and yellow duo, giving Ruby, Weiss and Winter time to realise what was happening.

"We can't stay, we need to get off this train!" Weiss yelled over the roar of the wind and train.

"What about the White Fang? What about the train?" Ruby yelled back.

"I couldn't care less about either of those! Let's leave!"

Weiss took her sisters hand and moved toward the gaping hole in the cart but just as she did she felt Winter's fingers leave her grasp and she spun around in shock, just in time to witness a shady figure appear by her sisters side, grab her by the waist and shoot off over the spider droid.

"Winter!"

Weiss gave chase without a second thought, leaving Ruby alone and Blake and Yang fighting the droid alone. Ahead of her was a series of flat-beds, creating a straight line on which Weiss could see the dark figure hauling her sister along. Weiss shot off, glyphs propelling her into the air as the train rushed by under her feet, she was quick to catch up.

But the figure reached the front of another box cart and calmly turned to face her, just as a multitude of White Fang exited the cart behind, led by none other than Adam Taurus.

* * *

Earlier

It was strange, this was a whole different situation, yet those memories continued to plague his mind. He was even riding in a Bullhead instead of sliding down a cliff, yet he continued to remember. He remembered approaching Blake and telling her it was time, he could remember the strange, uncertain look she had across her face and most definitely he could remember the train slowing down as it was separated from the engine, as Blake slowly grew smaller and moved further from him until she was nothing, gone forever.

"Sir, we've reached the track."

Adam jerked as he was abruptly brought back to reality, shaking his head to clear the daze of the past and focus on the present. He stood up from his seat as the rear ramp of the Bullhead slowly descended, air rushing in instantly as they flew over the Forever Fall. Adam walked to the edge of the ramp, looking over the forest as they flew before the ship turned slightly and they reached the train below them.

Adam looked back to check on his men, they looked ready. Raven walked up beside him and stood by his side.

"A little different to last time isn't it? Honestly I prefer our original approach, it was much more… unique."

Adam had to force himself not to cringe, "That's good to know."

He waved over to his men before leaping from the ship and landing on the last flat-bed of the train.

Of course the carriages were filled with resistance, in the form of dozens of the new model, Atlesian Knight, nothing they couldn't handle. It took them but moments, albeit with Adam and Raven to help, to clear the first few carriages at the rear of the train. After clearing what had to be the sixth cart, they stopped and decided to check the payload.

As reported it was indeed full of those black dust crystals, the ones that were extremely powerful and was insane to fill an entire train with it. But of course, as their leader expected, there was a catch.

"Sir!"

One of the men called Adam over as he searched through a crate.

"It's rigged sir." He pulled on some wires hidden on the inside of the crate, under some crystals and blended in nicely with its surroundings.

"Rigged to what?"

There was a loud crash that vibrating the floor beneath his feet and he turned to find the cause. A pair of soldiers toppled over a crate, the crystals spilling over the floor and leaving the crate empty, at least if you disregarded the flashing explosive in the middle of the crate.

"Detonation source?" Adam asked, calmly taking in the situation.

The two men looked over the explosive.

"It looks timed. I think the timer has already started."

"How much time?"

"I'm not sure sir. The time isn't exactly displayed in big red numbers." The soldier laughed at his own joke. "But I'd have to assume, by what the Schnee would be expecting, at least ten minutes max."

"Manual override?" Adam asked, formulating a plan.

"I can't be certain, but if his two daughters are going to be on this train, you'd think he'd have one."

Adam nodded, taking in the situation. Raven walked by and picked up a crystal off the floor, twirling it in her hand. Suddenly she clenched her fist around the crystal and it disappeared in a small cloud of black smoke, her muscles tensed and her body shuddered before she let out a long sigh.

"Yep, we definitely don't want to be around here when this blows." She said casually.

* * *

Present

Weiss' hand clenched around Myrtenaster's hilt as she stood still facing Adam, and the woman holding her sister, the woman Blake must have been talking about, they look exactly the same.

"Weiss, how are you?" Raven asked with a smile.

Some of the White Fang behind them licked their lips and were becoming agitated with the anticipation of killing two Schnee's in one day.

Weiss heard a loud crash from behind her, but she didn't turn around, nor did she have to. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as the spider droid, that she left the rest of her team to deal with, came tumbling over itself next to the train as it was thrown overboard. Somewhere down the track it exploded, rocking the train slightly.

"I wouldn't rock the train so much." Raven said casually, Winter still struggling in her grasp.

Weiss frowned slightly in confusion.

"Didn't you know? Your dad has, rather graciously, rigged the train to blow, and guess what it's filled with."

There was a short silence as Raven pulled a dust crystal from her pouch and tossed it up and down in her palm. Weiss' breath hitched as she realised the gravity of the situation. If this train was really filled with those crystals and set to blow, she was more than certain that much of it could easily level a mountain.

"Oh and it's set on a timer, which has already started by the way. You better hope your loving father has a manual override and is watching all this from his lovely home."

Ruby, Blake and Yang joined her side then, skidding to a halt next to her in order.

"Adam?"

"Blake?"

"Raven" Raven introduced herself. Grinning evilly as she looked over their slightly confused faces.

Blake tightened her grasp on Gamboul Shroud, feeling her sweaty palms and racing heartbeat, suddenly her throat felt dry.

"It's good to see you're alive and well." Adam offered.

"It's a shame you two have to keep meeting like this." Raven said after Blake remained silent.

"Adam please let her go." Blake tried.

Before Adam could reply, Raven burst into laughter.

"Bahahaha! What, you think it will be that easy? Have you forgotten who Adam is?"

"Shut up! You're just a clone!"

Raven's laughter immediately stopped, her gaze becoming darker and sharper.

"Don't you dare call me that!"

"I'll call you what I want! Adam, let her go!"

"Blake you know I can't do tha-"

Adam was cut short as a small explosion of ice interrupted him. Winter managed to slip a crystal into her palm as Raven was distracted and quickly used her glyphs to burst it all over Raven as she held her.

The ice exploded, engulfing Raven in large shards of ice and causing her to stumble back and topple over. Winter immediately ran toward her sister, and the White Fang wasted no time pulling on their triggers. Ruby was the first to react, dashing in between Winter and the White Fang as she spun Crescent Rose in a circle, deflecting the bullets, although a few bounced off her aura harmlessly.

Adam growled at the inconvenience, disregarding the half frozen Raven by his feet and dashing toward the team before him. Blake froze as she thought he was coming for her, but Adam moved past her without a second thought and reached Weiss in an instant.

Weiss pulled her sister behind her and brought her rapier up in front of her just in time to block Adam's katana. Weiss stumbled back from the shock, Winter following behind her, Adam wasted no time rushing toward the two Schnee's without mercy. These were Schnee's, they didn't deserve his mercy.

Blake watched in shock as she let Adam pass by her to attack her teammates, her friends! What was she doing?

Ember Celica boomed loudly as Yang fired off a couple of rounds to thin the crowd of White Fang shooting at her sister. Raven broke free of her icy prison and jumped to her feet with a growl.

"What did I say about rocking the train?" She said over the yelling and explosions.

She was about to move toward Yang, but something told her to move to the side. Just as she stepped to the side Kage appeared, his dual blades coming down in a wide arc. Raven side stepped the attack easily, leaving his swords to dig into the metal of the flat-bed. Of course Kage expected nothing less, recovering quickly and charging toward Raven.

"Blake! Blake what are you doing?!"

Yang walked up to her partner and turned her around to face her. The faunas' eyes seemed dazed and lost, unsure of what to do and how to act.

"Blake! Snap out of it!"

She didn't know what to do. This was it, this was the day. She couldn't make a choice, there was no way she could. No! This wasn't fair!

"Blake!"

Blake's mouth slowly moved in an attempt to form a response. "I-I can't-"

An enormous boom tore Yang's attention from her distressed partner to the source of the noise.

"KYWAAAAAH!"

The boom was followed by a painful yell and Yang watched as some sort of rocket slammed into her sister's front and sent her soaring backwards.

"Ruby!"

Yang's lilac eye's instantly became a burning red, her hair igniting in golden flames as she rushed into the middle of the mass of White Fang.

* * *

Weiss kept one hand on her sword and another by her sister, constantly ushering her to stay behind her. She was on the defensive, constantly being pushed back as Adam continued to push forward, a constant barrage of slashes and the occasional volley of shrapnel from Blush's barrel. Winter watched helplessly as her sister fought to protect her, constantly providing a human barrier between her and the threat.

Ruby came flying through the air, landing roughly against the steel floor a few meters from where they stood. Weiss saw Ruby bounce roughly against the flat-bed, limp and smoking from the front. Weiss eye's froze on the image for a split second and her heart skipped a beat.

_'Ruby!'_

It may have only been one second, but that was all Adam needed. He knocked her blade up effortlessly, firing Blush at almost point blank, the rounds pelting Weiss' left side painfully, her aura taking the force. Adam followed up with a powerful upward slash followed by another slash across her chest. Adam felt the familiar resistance of aura disappear from Weiss body, smiling to himself her flicked his blade around, bringing it back down for the killing blow.

As he brought his arm down he felt something attach to his sword and pulled it down prematurely, causing him to miss Weiss' vitals, instead leaving her with an ugly gash running from the side of her chest across to her right arm. Adam spun around, leaving Winter to tend to her sister's bleeding body, to find Gamboul Shroud wrapped around his blade, the ribbon held in Blake's hand meters from him.

"Blake!" He shouted over the surrounding noise.

"I told you to leave them!"

Adam jerked his katana to the side, throwing the scythe wrapped around it to the floor.

"You should get off this train Blake! Before you do something you'll regret."

"I won't let you hurt my friends!"

* * *

Raven smiled as she danced around with Kage, dodging and parrying his attacks easily, it was all very amusing. Kage gritted his teeth as he tried to land a hit, but in the dim light it seemed as if she was just fading in and out of existence. But in the end, two could play that game.

Raven's smile faltered as Kage's eyes suddenly began glowing red and his blades became highlighted as well. He smiled back at her before her rushed at her with renewed energy. Suddenly things around her became darker and he seemed to move faster and his attacks were more powerful, perhaps it was time to get serious.

Kage's swords became two red, blurred lines that danced between him and Raven, clashing against her Gamboul Shroud and producing an amazing light show of sparks. Kage was sure he had an opening, he was certain he would be able to slip through her defence, but Raven was full of tricks.

Just as his blade contacting her form, the blade continued on as if moving through thin air, the image of Raven before him wavered and dispersed. A clone?! Raven flipped over Kage as he remained stunned, landing behind him and shooting her foot out to strike his back. He stumbled forward and spun round to face her, only to find another clone rushing toward him and exploding brilliantly as it touched him.

* * *

"I don't care who you are! I won't stand by while my friends are in danger!" Blake yelled back to Adam, cursing her dry throat and the lump that seemed to stay there.

"This is not your fight Blake!"

"We don't _have _to fight!"

Kage flew out of nowhere, slamming into Blake and creating the window Adam needed. Adam fired Blush at Blake, creating an even larger window as Blake felt the rounds hit her front and topple her over. Adam quickly turned around, rushing toward the younger Schnee who was bent over her sister. He brought his leg around, swinging it straight into Winter's head. She stumbled to her feet, the kick moving her backward. Adam sheathed his sword, using his now free hand to grab Winter by the collar and throw to the floor. Winter was helplessly thrown through a pile of crates, smashing through the wooden casing and spilling the contents along the steel floor. She hit the ground with a painful yell and tried to scramble away.

Adam slowly stalked his prey, unsheathing his blade and aiming Blush at Winter's back as she crawled away.

"NOO!"

Weiss yelled before the shot rang out between those on the train. The force of the shot slammed Winter into the deck of the flat-bed, her aura wavering weakly, blood slowly oozing from the two or three pellets that made it past her aura. Winter struggled to her arms, turning around to face Adam. Adam walked up to the Schnee, his blade ready and without hesitation.

"NOOOO!"

Weiss made it to her feet, sword in hand and a glyph shooting her toward the back of the monster standing over her sister. A sense of déjà vu washed over her, replacing her sister with Ruby and Adam with that mercenary a while ago. But it didn't matter, what mattered was saving her sister. There was no way in hell that Weiss was going to lose her after coming back to her after all those years.

"Argh!"

DING!

Weiss' sword flew from her hand and it took a moment for the heiress to realise what had happened. It seemed that the whole world stopped, all of her team members stopped and even the White Fang stopped.

Weiss blinked as she looked at the person before her, the one to stop her from killing the monster attacking her beloved sister.

Blake's chest heaved as she panted, her body shaking with fear and uncertainty, her eyes undoubtedly wild and lost. What had she just done? She was standing in front of Weiss, Gamboul Shroud had just knocked Myrtenaster out of the heiress' hands, and she was now looking at her with utter confusion.

"Blake?"

Blake had no answer, all she managed to do was drop Gamboul Shroud and fall to her knees. Adam looked over his shoulder, realising what had just happened, he growled angrily and moved quickly. Sheathing his sword and picking up Winter by the collar. He dragged her back to Raven and the rest of his men.

"What? We're taking hostages now?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Winter!" Weiss called.

"Get us out of here." Adam commanded.

Raven humphed and in an instant a black cloud engulfed the group and when it cleared they were gone.

"Weis-"

Winter's call was cut off as they disappeared, leaving Weiss to fall to her knees where she had been moment earlier.

"WINTER!"

Tears were quietly streaming down the heiress' face. She lost her, again! How did this happen? Why!?

Weiss spun around , her eyes blazing with a fury Ruby had never seen before. Weiss stomped all the way over to Blake, where the faunas was till on her knees.

"Blake!" Weiss called, her voice gurgling with anger.

Blake slowly turned toward the heiress.

"Get up! GET UP!" Weiss pulled Blake to her feet, her body surging with anger and frustration and hatred.

"Blake what was that!" Weiss yelled.

Blake remained silent, only the rushing wind and the sound of the train filling the space.

"Blake Belladonna!" Weiss continued, her hands shaking with rage.

"Weiss." Ruby groaned as she got to her feet, Yang helping her up.

"BLAKE!"

A loud slapping noise sounded between the team, followed by a crash as Blake fell over into the same crates Winter had fallen into.

"Weiss!" Ruby called as she witnessed her partner slap her teammate.

"Blake what were you doing! My sister is gone! GONE! This time it _is _your fault! Get up!"

"Weiss!" Ruby called again.

"Is the life of that, that, monster, more important! The same monster that took Ruby! The same monster that you no doubt let escape that time as well!"

"He's not a monster!" Blake yelled back, her eyes glassy and quivering.

"He isn't? Than what do you call him? A friend? A lover?"

"He was!"

"WAS! _Was_ Blake! Look at what you have done! Where is Winter? Hmm? Where is she?!"

"I-I'm sor-"

"Sorry? Sorry won't bring her back Blake! I thought you were my teammate, my friend! Where is the friendship here? Winter is gone!"

A short silence fell upon them as Weiss, panted with rage, staring at Blake, her usually cool icy eyes, sparkling with anger.

"I swear to you Blake, if something happens to my sister, the blame is on you and I _will_ hold you at fault!"

* * *

**A/N: Please review, did you like this chapter? How did i do? I'm not sure myself.**


	10. No more apologies

**A/N: Sorry for the wait guys, been a busy week. This chapter's a bit of a 'eh' chapter so...**

* * *

Blake remained in silence, she really had nothing to say, nothing she should say. Weiss was right and completely justified. No matter how many times she replayed that moment in her mind, she kept seeing herself stepping in front of Weiss to save Adam, even when she knew the consequences of her actions to those around her. No matter what was at stake, or who was at stake Blake knew that she wouldn't have done anything differently, a part of her refused to lose Adam and it seemed that part of her had control over all the other parts.

But Blake knew that was wrong. She knew she couldn't stay like this, she had friends now, she had a family. People who loved her and cared for her, she had Yang. What if Yang was in Winter's position? Would she have done the same thing? Adam or Yang, who would she choose in that situation? It doesn't even have to be Yang! Weiss, Ruby, they all loved her and she loved them, but she couldn't give up on Adam.

Winter is gone because of this, Weiss' sister had been taken because Blake made a decision. Was it the wrong decision? Now her team are being pulled deeper into something that really should have never happened. The White Fang, Adam, Raven, all of these things would have never affected them if Blake didn't summon Raven, if she didn't use the crystal, if she-

"Blake?"

Yang's warm voice pulled Blake out of her thoughts. She turned to her partner, her eyes still wide and lost.

"Are you okay?" Yang gently grabbed her arm, her lilac eyes soft and caring.

"I-I-"

A Bullhead roared over their heads, cutting Blake off as its engines bellowed loudly over them, moving toward the end of the train.

"They must still be on board!" Weiss yelled, already running after the Bullhead.

"Weiss! Weiss we need to get off the train before it blows!"

Of course, as if on cue, as Ruby finished her sentence all the crates and boxes around them started beeping. Weiss stopped and looked to a box right to her left, she turned around and looked back to her team.

BOOM!

* * *

Ringing. Ruby's ears were ringing horribly. She couldn't see either, everything was a blur. Smoke? She smelt smoke. Her body felt numb, all of it. Her arm tingled, it felt weightless and she wasn't sure if it was moving. She managed a groan and shook her head, some sense of sight returning.

Ruby's breath hitched as she realised she was indeed alive and the sight before was actually reality. It soon became clear to the red head that she was sitting in the midst of an enormous crater, one that had ripped a hole in Forever Fall, a crater that ran for miles.

All around her Ruby could only see scorched dirt, only a few pieces of the train remained, the track itself was completely obliterated. It was as if she had been teleported to a waste land and was no longer in Forever Fall. What she saw the Titan accomplish that night, was nothing compared to this.

Ruby groaned as she pushed off the ground into a sitting position. She looked around, noticing that the ground around her was still crackling and giving off a strange energy. She got to her feet, looking around as she scoured the crater for her team. It wasn't hard to miss a patch of white in an otherwise black waste land, Ruby immediately spotted Weiss lying face down meters from her position.

Ruby took one step toward the heiress and collapsed to the ground, yelling out in pain as she fell on her left side and pain shot through her arm. She rolled over onto her back as her face scrunched up in pain and she began to tremble as the adrenaline left her system and her injuries began to call. Her breathing became ragged and she had to force herself to ignore the pain as much as possible and calm down.

Once her breathing became stable and her body stopped trembling, she got back into a sitting position. She took Crescent Rose from her back and used it as a support as she painfully got to her feet. Her left foot touched the ground and she yelped in agony just as she almost toppled over again, this time using her scythe to hold her up.

Looking around once more at the level of destruction around them, Ruby realised that there was no way she should have survived, so how had she?

* * *

Blake's head pulsed painfully, there was some sort of intense pressure there, one that had her eyes closed shut in agony. Her back felt hot and burning, her chest stung with every breath and she was sure her left arm was bleeding from somewhere, her fingers felt something warm and sticky.

She felt a weight lying on top of her, she moved her right hand around to feel the object, it was soft and padded. Blake moved her hand up the object just as her eyes finally opened, she felt hair and when her vision retuned she realised what it was.

"Yang?" She breathed softly, panic immediately flooding through her.

Yang had her arms wrapped around her defensively, her body draped over as if creating a human shield for the faunas, which was pretty much what Yang had hoped for. Before the explosion Yang threw herself over Blake in an attempt to shield her as much as possible, to her credit it worked, but right now Blake was hoping it didn't work too well.

"Yang! Yang!"

Blake shook her partner gently, the blondes head remaining silent against her chest.

"Oh god, Yang please!"

Blake couldn't help her voice from cracking as tears began to well up and her hands began to shake from fear. She shakily brushed away a few golden strands out of the way of Yang's face, showing Blake her closed eye's and soft, somewhat peaceful expression. It was then that Blake noticed her hand coloured crimson with blood, not her blood.

Blake's heart felt as if it clenched up at the sight, her eye's widened in horror. This was Yang's blood.

Blake's hand fell back onto Yang's back and the faunas was filled with dread as she found the wound in her partners back. Feeling the object lodged in her Yang's back, her blood seeping around the area.

"No! Nononono! Yang!"

Not again! Not AGAIN!

_'Why was she always doing this? Why did she always put herself in danger for me!? WHY?!'_

Blake couldn't have this. This couldn't happen. This was her fault, all of it, it was all her fault.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?!

WHY!?

"Blake, I told you, I like to be on the top."

Blake froze as the words left Yang's mouth, as lilac eyes turned towards her, as a goofy, pained grin spread across her partners face.

"Yang?"

Yang groaned as she rolled off her partner, landing on her back and yelling as pain burst from the wound at her back.

"Argh! Fuck!"

Her back arched in reaction and she quickly turned onto her side, trembling and breathing heavily from the shock. She forced herself to hold back anymore curse and groans being conscious of Blake probably being flooded with guilt and worry.

Blake watched on in with glazed eyes as tears rolled down her face, the wound on Yang's back on full display for her. Some sort of metallic debris had found its way into Yang's back, to the side of her spine. Blake wasn't sure how large the object was, nor did she want to find out, the blood on her hands was enough to cause her to lock up and lose control over her sense.

"How bad is it?"

Blake couldn't reply, tears filling her vision and rolling down her face.

"Blake?"

Yang waited for a response but only heard a quite sob.

"Blake?"

Yang made to roll on to her front and get up, but Blake saw her and called out.

"No! Stop!" She managed between her crying.

"Blake it's fine I promise. I'm okay." Yang tried to reassure her partner but it only seemed to make it worse.

"No! Yang please! I can't keep doing this to you! I can't keep hurting you like this!"

Blake began to back away unintentionally as Yang finally got into sitting position.

"No Blake it's fine I swear! It's not that bad." Yang replied with a small chuckle.

"Yang I'm serious!"

"I am too-"

"You don't get it!"

If Yang had to be honest, she had somehow completely forgotten about the pain in her back as her mind was overridden with how stricken and lost and afraid Blake looked in that moment.

"This is all my fault! All of it!"

Blake wanted to wipe away the tears streaming down her face but both her hands were covered in blood. Her left in hers, her right in Yang's.

"Blake none of this is your fault."

"Yes it is! It is!" Blake rose to her feet and was still backing away.

"Blake pleas-"

"I'm sorry. For all of this, I'm sorry."

"Blake stop apologising."

Yang struggled to her feet as Blake continued to increase the distance between them.

"It's ok, I promise. None of this is your fault. I don't blame you for any of this, none of us do."

"Winter is gone because of me! That was my fault!"

"Wha-"

"Raven exists because of me!"

"Bl-"

"This whole thing happened because of _me_!"

"Blake!"

"I'm sorry Yang. But I- I can't kept hurting you like this."

Blake turned away from Yang and Yang had the horrible realisation what was about to happen.

"No Blake don't-"

She started running.

"Blake! Blake stop! Blake!"

Yang tried to give chase but there was no way she could with her injury.

"BLAKE!"

* * *

Weiss was in a bad way. She was sure her right arm was either dislocated or broken, either way it hurt beyond description if she tried to move it. Her left arm was bleeding horribly from either one large gash or a series of smaller cuts, or perhaps even both, it didn't matter because it was covered in blood and felt heavy.

Whatever caused the cuts in her left arm continued on to attack her left side, she stared down at her shredded dress in agony as she took note of all the pieces of shrapnel embedded down her thigh and leg. She was positioned right next to a crate before the explosion, no doubt some of that crate made its way into her body. Yet it was still a wonder as to how she survived.

She blinked and her left eye started stinging, she blinked away the sensation but left the eye closed, apparently her scar was bleeding again. She looked around with what little vision remained, taking note of all the destruction. She was not surprised by the magnitude of it, but she was still awed by it.

_'Winter!'_

The thought suddenly hit her. Had her sister survived? For some reason she knew that she wasn't dead, but that wasn't exactly extremely reassuring, the White Fang may still have her and Weiss didn't want to even give a single thought to what they might do to her. She snarled at the thought of those foul creatures, those horrid faunas.

Something caught her attention, turning slowly to look at it she found a dark figure running, stumbling as they went. Weiss frowned as she tried to make out the figure, she looked in the opposite direction they were running from and found a mass of golden hair standing still.

"Yang?" which would make the running figure, "Blake?"

_'Why is she running away from Yang?'_

Then Weiss remembered what she had done earlier. Adam should be dead! He should be dead and Winter would still be with her. Weiss' fist clenched as much as her pain would allow her as she watched Blake running.

"Maybe its best if she stays out of this." Weiss breathed, ignoring a multitude of other thoughts that passed her mind.

"Weiss!"

Weiss found Ruby limping toward her, using Crescent Rose as a walking stick.

"Ruby?"

"Oh I'm so glad you're ok."

"'Okay' is a bit of an overstatement. It seems we all made it out somehow." Weiss nodded over to Yang.

"Yeah but where's Blake?" Ruby asked innocently.

* * *

**A/N: Blake like's to run a lot doesn't she?**


	11. Ohana means family

**A/N: Think of this as part of the previous chapter, just with an extra link in between it :P**

* * *

Blake wasn't sure how long she had been running for, or how far, but after what felt like an eternity she had reached the edge of the crater and escaped that land of destruction. Throughout her hasty escape, her tear filled vision and multiple injuries caused her to fall over on more than one occasion, leaving her with stinging, grazed knees.

But the pain was mostly ignored for the majority of the journey, Blake's only concern was getting as far away from her team as possible for now. In that short moment with Yang, those few painful, agonising seconds, Blake had decided that she needed to leave, in order to keep the ones she loved safe, she had to leave them, because she was the cause of all their pain. She started all of this and she would have to end it, alone.

Yet even with the firm belief that what she was doing was the right thing, she couldn't help but pause and look back. She was leaving her friends behind, her family, she was running away again and she wasn't sure if she would ever come back. Yang was still where she left her, standing a little lopsided, watching her helplessly as she left her. The sight only served to cause Blake to feel even more guilt and chipped away a little more at her heart.

She was tearing them apart, from the beginning that's all she had been doing and now she still is doing it.

She forced herself to turn around and continue on, trying to squeeze the image from her mind.

Once she left the crater and was running through what remained of Forever Fall, the sun had risen above the horizon and shards of sunlight were peeking through the leaves of the trees. By that time Blake was exhausted and she was now moving at a slow walk, holding her left arm in her right as it continued to bleed. She looked down at her right hand, Yang's blood still clinging to her skin, her wound flashing through Blake's mind. She recoiled at the image, coming to a decision.

She moved through Forever Fall, using her faunas senses and skills to locate some sort of body of water. She heard the faint noise of running water, the soft trickling as water ran over rocks and gently continued on its way. She moved toward the sound and found the stream, a small river running through the forest, into the distance.

Blake moved toward it and fell to her knees by the bank. She leaned over and dipped her right hand in the water, letting the flow of the stream wash away what it could. She watched the dark, red swirls move from her hand and move down the stream, dissipating as the water washed it away. Some of the blood clung to her skin and she had to rub it off with her other hand, her left hand stung where the water washed over her wounds. Once her right hand was as clean as it would get she worked on her own wounds, cleaning them with the running stream, hissing as the minerals and salt in the water washed through her wounds and caused them to sting. Once the blood was gone she could finally see the wound, a gash that ran from her shoulder down to her elbow. The rest of her arm was riddled with smaller, shallower cuts, the inside of her palm was horribly scarred.

Once the painstaking task of cleaning the cuts as best as she could was over, she removed the ribbon around her ears, wrapping it around her arm using it as a makeshift bandage. She sighed and looked down at the surface of the water, her reflection looking back up at her. Her ears twitched and suddenly she was overwhelmed with frustration and anger, all directed at the person staring up at her.

"All your fault! All of it! Selfish! You're selfish! You wanted a new life, wanted to start again regardless of who you affected! Now look what's happened! Gah!"

Blake lashed out at the running water, disturbing its peaceful flow and ruining the reflection before her. She got to her feet and turned to leave, but someone was standing behind here.

"That's hardly fair to yourself."

Blake jumped at the sudden appearance of the man. She should have heard him approaching way before he got this close, but obviously she wasn't feeling herself at the moment.

"Kage? Wha-what are you doing?"

"Making sure I don't lose you."

Blake looked him up and down, he didn't fare any better than the rest of them. His thick, black hair was dishevelled and messy, parts of it was shaded crimson, probably from his blood. His right eye was half closed, a small cut above his brow causing blood to slide down past it. There was a cut across his cheek and a large portion of his clothing was torn and revealed bruised and tattered skin.

But all in all, his deep dark eyes didn't show any signs of pain or hurt. He just stood with a half grin looking at Blake. He cocked his head to the side and Blake realised she was staring.

"W-what's it to you where I go?"

"I'm not sure if you were paying attention before but, I did say my leader wants to see you."

Blake remained silent for a moment, "Who is your leader anyway, what does he want with me?"

"_She_ actually, and that I wouldn't know. She didn't exactly fill me in."

"It doesn't matter anyway."

Blake moved past him and continued on, but Kage followed close behind.

"Why are you following me? Go away."

"I've been looking for you for a while, I'd really rather not lose you. Plus I have a feeling you might do something stupid later on."

"Don't think you're going to stop me. It's none of your business what I do."

"That's true, but either way I'm still going to follow you." Kage replied simply.

Blake looked at him, her eyes searching his mystery for some answers, but after finding nothing her gaze softened.

"I wouldn't get too close, you might get hurt."

* * *

Yang remained in her position, watching Blake until the faunas left her vision completely, which was when Yang's body became conscious of its condition and she collapsed to the ground.

"Yang!"

Of course by that time Ruby and Weiss had made their way over to her.

"Yang! Your back! Oh god!"

Ruby fell to her knees by her sister's side, disregarding her own condition in favour of her older sisters.

"I swear," Yang groaned, "It's nothing really."

"Yang don't be an idiot, we need to get help. Weiss."

Ruby turned to her partner, taking note that there was some sense of worry in the heiress' eyes. "Do you have your scroll?"

"Fortunately, it won't be necessary."

Ruby and Weiss turned toward the voice, even though it was unmistakable.

"Professor Goodwitch?"

The professor walked up to the three girls, kneeling opposite Ruby by Yang's side. She placed her riding crop to the side and inspected the wound carefully.

"Help is on the way, don't worry too much." She said coolly, looking over their wounds. "I assume you've all seen better days."

"We'll live." Weiss replied, looking away from the professor.

Goodwitch shot her a glance but returned her attention to the blonde gradually losing consciousness before her. She took a look at the object lodged in the brawlers back.

"This should probably come out." She stated.

"What? Now?" Ruby said, a little fearful.

"Yes now, I don't know how long the paramedics will be."

"Don't-w-worry Ruby, I'll be f-fine."

Goodwitch placed her hands over Yang's back, a faint purple glow emitting from her palms. The glow seemed to wrap itself around the wound and take hold of the object. Yang winced visibly as her face scrunched up as pain blossomed from the wound.

"In three." Goodwitch stated.

Yang nodded.

"Three, two, one."

Needless to say, Ruby had never heard her sister yell that loudly, or in that much pain before. The red head was filled with worry before the large string of curses began to leave her sisters mouth, then Ruby became a little embarrassed.

"I suppose I owe you an explanation." Goodwitch said, addressing the two conscious members of team RWBY.

After Goodwitch pulled the object free of Yang's back, and the blonde finished swearing and yelling, the paramedics arrived just as she gratefully slipped into unconsciousness. The paramedics themselves had to remind themselves who they were here for, the destruction around them distracting them easily.

A medical airship arrived to pick them up, Yang was moved in by stretcher whilst Ruby and Weiss were able enough to walk in themselves. Currently their visible wounds were being treated as they flew toward the nearest hospital.

Weiss had to force herself to stop hissing every time the medic dabbed at her cuts, the medic would be there for a while and Weiss didn't think it would be easy to hold a conversation when she was hissing every third second. Unfortunately, although she managed to stop the audible wincing, her body kept twitching every now and then.

"Well I guess that would be a good idea." Ruby stated.

Goodwitch was sitting across from the duo, Yang resting peacefully between them.

The professor sighed, adjusting her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"After careful consideration of what you had told me Ruby, I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt, so I looked in to what you had told me and realised you were telling the truth. I was lucky enough to reach you in time. "

"You saved us?" Ruby asked.

"You were fortunate enough that I made it in time and was able cast a barrier around you all before the explosion. There was no way I could have stopped the explosion itself, but at least I kept you alive."

"Barely." Weiss mumbled as her arm instinctively twitched away from the medic by her side.

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow at the heiress but chose to ignore it.

"Where is Blake?" Goodwitch asked.

Ruby looked to Weiss but the heiress remained silent. "She uh, she ran away."

"Ran away?"

Ruby nodded.

"Why?"

"That's a good question." Weiss said softly, although they all heard.

"Come to think of it, wasn't there a boy with you as well?"

"Who? Oh him, we didn't notice he was gone, we don't really know him…at all."

After a short silence fell over them, they all sat in silence as the airship moved through the air, rocking gently every so often. Yang mumbled a few times in her sleep, her face creasing and cringing. The medic by Weiss' side finished patching the heiress up, all her cuts had been cleaned and the larger ones stitched up, although her dress wasn't faring any better.

* * *

Once the airship landed and they arrived at the hospital, Ruby was finally able to get Weiss alone.

"Weiss, are you going to tell her about Winter?" Ruby asked.

"Why? So they can ignore us and do nothing again? I don't think so."

"Weiss!"

Weiss sighed, "Ruby I don't think the White Fang would like it if we started to tell other people. If you know what I mean."

Ruby nodded, Weiss had a point, unfortunately it was a good point. It looked like they were really doing this alone. After a short silence Ruby spoke again.

"Weiss, are you worried about Blake?" Ruby asked carefully.

"Blake? Of course I am why wouldn't I be?" Weiss replied evenly.

"Weiss."

Weiss sighed, she honestly wasn't sure how she felt about the faunas right now.

"Ruby, now isn't the best time to ask me that."

"Weiss she's your teammate! Your friend!"

"I know what she is Ruby, but what she did isn't something I can look over easily."

"But can you really blame her?"

Weiss paused, she wasn't expecting Ruby to say something like that. "Excuse me?"

"Weiss, you know Blake and Adam have a history, you were about to _kill _him."

"He deserves it." Weiss replied, forcing herself to keep her tone even.

"Weiss, I know this is hard for you because your sister is involved and I'm not asking you to forgive Blake, at least not yet, I'm just asking you to be understanding. Blake obviously still has feelings for Adam, it wouldn't have been easy for Blake to do what she did, she knows how you feel about Winter and no doubt cares for as well."

Weiss listened as her partner's words came out true and wise, something Weiss wouldn't have expected Ruby to do.

"We know Blake loves us, imagine how conflicted she would have been. Weiss she _ran away,_ again. No matter what she does, she's a part of the family and we can't lose her."

Weiss looked at Ruby, her silver eyes stern and unwavering. Weiss hated it when Ruby was serious like this, because she was usually always right.

"I know Ruby, I know." Weiss sighed, "But Winter is my _sister, _you can't blame me for that. I could have her with me right now!"

"But Adam would be dead and how do you think Blake would feel about you then?"

"Ruby we can't save everyone."

"Not unless we try."

* * *

**A/N: Woah! Ruby stepping it up! She'll be a great huntress!  
Tell me, is the angst real?**


	12. Scars

**A/N: Filler filler filler filler filler, enjoy!**

* * *

"You kept her alive? I thought you wanted the Schnee's dead."

"I do."

"So why isn't she dead?" Raven gestured toward Winter, who was tied up on her knees, all the while glaring at them.

Adam exhaled, "Come to think of it, I really don't have to answer you." He stated.

"Doesn't matter, I think I know why anyway." Raven replied slyly.

"Oh?" Adam turned back to face her.

"You kept her alive because Blake kept _you _alive. You still have feelings for her don't you?"

Adam's eyes widened, although no one would have noticed. "That's none of your business." He said angrily.

Raven smiled in response to the tone of his voice. "Hit a nerve have I?"

"To be honest that's all you've been doing." Adam stated.

"Oh well I'm sorry I'm a little observant." Raven said sarcastically. "Well if what I said isn't true you wouldn't mind me inviting them back over for a little trade, seeing as this Schnee is still alive, would you?"

"A trade?"

"I think me and Blake have some unfinished business," Raven explained with a wicked smile, "and I'm sure you two do as well."

* * *

The sun had set, the light was gone and the moon hung shattered in the sky. Blake and Kage remained silent for majority of the day, Kage didn't want to say anything and Blake was too busy with her thoughts to strike up a conversation, which wasn't something she did often anyway.

Kage didn't ask why but Blake had decided to stay within the forest instead of reaching the city, they managed to find food and shelter within Forever Fall and used that to keep them as safe as possible. Kage wasn't exactly sure what was going through Blake's mind and he thought it wouldn't be a good idea to bring it up unless she wanted to, which caused them to remain in silence for a long time.

They stopped once the moon reached its peak in the sky and set up a fire. Blake's makeshift bandage had to be changed and that was possibly the only interaction the pair had had that day, albeit silently.

They sat opposite each other with the fire warming the area between them. Blake continued to fiddle with her bandage and with her hands, Kage watched her in silence. Until it became too much for him.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you plan to do?" He asked, finally breaking the silence.

Blake didn't reply straight away, she needed an answer in the first place. What was she going to do? She didn't know where her team was, didn't know where Winter was, or if she was still alive. What _was _she going to do.

Blake ran her fingers along the inside of her right hand, Yang's blood somehow reappearing on her skin. She shuddered at the image and clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm. She was going to fix this, that's what. On her own, without getting other people hurt.

"I'm doing this alone." She said after a short silence. "But I'm going to need you to take me to them."

"To who?"

"To the White Fang."

* * *

The next day

Weiss' scroll rang for what had to be the twentieth time and it was only eleven in the morning. The heiress took her scroll out and angrily declined the call, shoving the scroll back into her pouch.

"You sure you don't want to answer that?"

"Yes Ruby I'm sure." Weiss answered, struggling to keep her anger in check.

"It could be important."

"It's my mother, I know exactly what she wants and speaking with will only make me furious."

"She's probably worried." Ruby said softly.

"So she should be."

"Weiss."

"Maybe she had done something to stop her husband we wouldn't be here."

"That's not very f-"

"Fair? Well isn't that something that keeps coming up lately."

Ruby glared at her partner, her rather difficult partner. Understandably she was just worried and angry about her sister, but Ruby though she could at least try.

The scroll started ringing again just as Yang stepped into the Bullhead.

"You gonna answer that?" The blonde asked.

Weiss glared at the brawler before yanking the scroll out and slamming the decline button.

"Never mind." Yang muttered.

The transports engines roared to life as they were lifted into the air, slowly turning around toward Beacon. Yang removed her jacket, revealing the bandage wrapped around her torso, which she started removing.

"Yang!" Ruby called.

"What? This thing is uncomfortable, plus I'm fine anyway. See look." Yang twisted in her seat so Ruby could see her, now not so visible injury. The blonde was right, the wound was nothing more than a thin line now, the wonders of new age medicine and aura.

"Any word from Blake?" Yang quickly asked, changing subjects.

"No." Ruby said sadly.

Yang nodded silently, looking out one of the windows. "She's so stubborn! She should've stayed!" Yang slammed her fist into the side of the transport.

"I'm sure we'll do fine without her, maybe even a little better." Weiss muttered.

"What was that?!" Yang asked, her eyes flashing red.

"Yang be reasonable, we wouldn't be in this mess if she didn't save that faunas."

"Weiss!"

"I don't care! She's my partner she shouldn't have ran."

"You don't care?! What if it was Ruby instead of Winter, Yang? What then?"

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled.

Yang recoiled, it had been Ruby once, and Blake had done the same thing. Yang had to admit, in the moment she was furious, but looking back Yang couldn't blame her.

"Weiss what did I tell you yesterday!"

"Ruby it's fine. Weiss' attitude is completely justified. I tell you what Weiss, you handle your sister and I'll handle Blake and Adam."

Weiss looked at her blonde teammate, slightly surprised by the change of pace in the conversation.

"Deal. Just make sure she doesn't get in my way." Weiss stated.

Yang could tell that the heiress wasn't joking, not in the slightest.

"What are we supposed to do now? We don't know where their hideout is do we?" Yang asked.

"Blake might." Ruby suggested, knowing that it wasn't really helpful.

"That doesn't exactly help us does it Ruby?" Weiss asked rhetorically.

"Can't we track her scroll?" Yang asked.

"I already tried, she's too cunning for that, her scroll is deactivated." Weiss said.

Silence fell over the three girls, what to do next?

"We wait." Weiss spoke up, "Winter is still alive, no doubt they'll use her to draw me back to them. So we wait for them to make their move."

"This is all too familiar." Yang said softly.

Ruby shuddered as the memories flooded back to her, dark, painful memories. She quickly pushed them away, this wouldn't be like that, she would make sure of that.

* * *

"BAHAHAHAHA, look at her squirm!"

Laughter echoed through the chamber as the men laughed along with each other. They had a Schnee, a lovely, young girl, all to themselves, why wouldn't they be happy?

Winter forced herself to hold back a whimper as another part of her skin opened up and started bleeding, the sting of the whip lingering long after the blood had dripped onto the floor. One more scar added to the collection.

"Turn her over! There's no more room on her back!" One of them yelled with a laugh.

Winter squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to block it out, block it all out, all of it. The pain, the voices, her own thoughts. All of it!

She knew the White Fang were bad people, but she didn't know they were this bad. Then again, maybe it came with the name, this was more personal to them.

"Now we get to show you how much pain you Schnee's have caused us!" She was told before they dragged her away.

The looks that some of the other members gave her as she was roughly dragged away told her they weren't all like this. Some of the White Fang shot her sympathetic glances, she even heard some say this was a bit too much. But none of them stopped them, so Winter really didn't see any difference between them.

Her eyes shot open when she felt the chains by her wrists being removed from the wall. She looked up and saw two men taking the chains of the wall and swapping them over so they could turn her around. For the most part her back was facing them so she didn't get to see who was watching her, but now that 'there was no more room on her back' she saw them all.

As she was turned around her knees slipped and she fell sideways. They all erupted into laughter, the noise echoing through the chamber and through her mind as she tried to block it out.

"She tripped on her own blood!" Another round of laughter.

Winter looked at the ground, the man was right. Her eye's widened as she realised she was now kneeling in a small pool of her own blood. She didn't know how many times they had whipped her, but the blood on the floor only told her the worst.

She was pulled from her thoughts as her arm was roughly yanked up as the chains were reattached to the wall. One of the men approached with a bucket in his arms.

"I heard the Schnee's like ice. Is that true?"

He stepped up to and tipped the bucket over her head. A rush of ice cold water watched over her and her breath hitched and the sudden drop in temperature. Winter thrashed her head in an attempt to move her wet hair out of her face before her entire back started stinging horribly. She gripped the chains in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"Oh I'm sorry, I may have filled it with vinegar. Bahahaha!" They all laughed in unison as she began shivering, even though she fought herself not to.

They let her sit there for a while before someone else approached her.

"How's it going little lady?" He said with a grin.

Winter sniffled, glared at the man and then spat in his face.

"Argh! You bitch!"

His hand came around and smacked her face to the side. Winter felt blood trickling down from three different spots across her face, she cringed at the sting and the man chuckled in response.

"Haha! Sorry darling, can't help the claws." He stated, bringing his fingers up to his lips and licking them clean with a grin.

Winter watched in horror as the man licked her blood off his black claws, instinctively her body shook and rattled the chains, causing them all to laugh again.

Winter slammed her eyes shut as the noise rang out once more, she turned her head to the side and hoped they wouldn't see the tears running down her cheeks. But before they had the chance her body jerked instinctively as the whip danced along her front, tearing her clothes and adding yet another stream of blood to the collection.

Winter cried out and strained against the chains, her knuckles turning white as yet another whip lash rang out. She felt a cold rush of air against her stomach as a portion of her shirt was torn free, leaving her skin bare.

"She's gonna be naked soon if you keep this up!" Someone yelled out.

"Good! Maybe I should work faster than." Another round of that horrid laughter.

Winter shut her eyes and turned away, she didn't want to see it, didn't want to see them, see the reality, the truth of what was happening. This wasn't fair, it wasn't right! What had she done? She didn't do anything, it was her father not her!

Winter promised herself she wouldn't let them break her, wouldn't let them have the satisfaction. But she was naïve and ignorant, she didn't know they were this horrid, this evil. They were crushing her harder than she had imagined, they were pushing and pushing, every laugh and every joke pushed her closer to the edge.

_'Weiss! Weiss please!'_

* * *

"You really do live in the dark don't you?" Adam approached Raven, who was watching the show through one of the windows.

"I say why not let them have their fun, she won't remember most of this anyway."

"Why's that?"

"She won't be alive in two days will she? None of them will."

Adam shot her a look, but she didn't seem to notice, perhaps to immersed in what was going on in the chamber. This woman, was something else, something unnatural. It really put him on edge. Adam took a look inside, just as they put the whip away and grabbed something else, something long and sharp.

Adam scrunched his nose in disgust, "I never liked those men. I always thought they were pigs."

* * *

**A/N: Bit of a dark ending, maybe a bit too sudden? Dunno, up to you guys to decide. Tbh, there's no way Winter's coming out of this without scars, I don't mean physical ones.**


	13. Reconciliation

**A/N: uploaded this while on a three hour car ride from my ipad, so uncomfortable **

* * *

"I guess there's no way to talk you out of this."

Blake didn't even bother to reply, remaining silent as they moved through the alley ways and streets in the cover of night. It had been two days since Blake had demanded Kage take her to the White Fang, at least their closest hideout.

Kage knew it was definitely a bad idea, what could Blake do on her own? She was just one person, even if she did have some sort of connection with one of the leaders.

"Will you at least tell me what you're going to do?"

They stopped as Blake peered around the corner of a store. After she deemed it safe she turned to face Kage.

"All you need to do is keep Winter alive, don't worry about me."

Kage stared at the faunas as she crossed the strip between the two buildings, crouching low and moving quickly. This girl may believe she was doing the right thing, but Kage didn't see this benefiting anyone.

"It's just over there right?" Blake ushered forward, just behind a building in front of them.

"Should be, but how are you gonna get in?"

Blake didn't bother to reply, letting her actions speak for themselves. She stepped out of the shadows and strolled toward the building, drawing Gamboul Shroud and continuing without hesitation. She will make things right!

* * *

Weiss' scroll rang again, it had stopped yesterday, her mother finally getting the message. But this call wasn't from her mother, it was a blocked number and Weiss had a pretty good idea who it might be.

The rest of her team rolled out of bed as the ringing pulled them from what little sleep they were getting, rubbing their eyes awake as they looked to the heiress.

"It's probably them." She said.

She looked down at her scroll, looked up at Ruby and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Weiss?!"

"Winter?!" Weiss' heart immediately dropped, "Winter where are you?"

"Weiss please! Please come get me!"

"Winter!" Winter's voice was weak and desperate, desperate beyond belief it made Weiss fear for the worst.

Dread filled the heiress and she started trembling, Winter's voice shot through Weiss like a hot iron, striking somethign deep and horrible within her.

"Winter speak to me! What's happened? Where are you?"

"Wiess!" Winter's voice cracked and it was obvious she was crying. "The-they put me in a room an-and they-"

Winter's voice was abrubtly replaced with a yell, someone pulling her away from the scroll.

"Winter?!" Weiss yelled.

"I'm sorry but Miss Schnee can't make it to the phone right now, but there is a message for you."

"Raven!" Weiss' nails were digging into her palms but she didn't realise.

"We're inviting you over! How exciting! Please don't be shy, we would love you all to be there, plus your sister is dying to see you, literally."

BEEEEEEP

"Raven! Raven!" Wiess yelled into the scroll.

She looked at the scroll, 'call ended'.

"Argh! Shit!"

"Weiss?" Ruby called softly.

Weiss moved to get changed, her eyes flaring with anger but her heart trembling in fear.

"We need to go. Now!"

"Go? Go where?"

"Anywhere! Winter is- they hurt her! I need to get to her!"

"Weiss but where?"

Just then her scroll rang again, a message. Weiss picked it up, an adress.

As soon as she finished reading the message she shot out of their room, not bothering to wait for her teammates. Winter's voice, it was so, so hurt. Weiss' heart tembled as she continued to hear her sister voice.

'Wiess! Weiss please!'

What had they done to her!? It didn't matter, Weiss would make them know they had made a mistake. She would never forgive any of them, any of those filthy, horrible faunas. None of them!

* * *

"What do you think? Was is too much?" Raven asked, throwing Winter to the side.

Adam shot her a sideways look, not even thinking it worth to reply.

"The call I mean, too dramatic?"

Adam sighed, " Raven, I honestly could not give a sh-"

"Sir! Sir, she's here, she's breaking through!" A soldier ran up to them, interrupting their conversation.

"Who?" Adam asked.

" The cat faunas! She's tearing her way through here!"

Winter perked up at the description, "Blake?" She said in a dangerously soft voice.

"Blake? What about he team?"

"No sir, it's just her."

Adam turned to Raven, who was listening intently, a little surprised by the information.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea what she's doing."

Adam turned back to the soldier and was about to give him orders before Raven interrupted.

"You may as well let her through, she'll get here eventually."

Adam blew air out of noes, " Do as she said."

The soldier looked between the two, a little confused by the instructions before realising he had been given an order and quickly ran off to complete it.

"What is she doing?" Adam mumbled to himself.

"Knowing her, something reckless."

* * *

Blake paused, something strange was happening. All the men suddenly stopped rushing for her, why? She didn't know, but all she could was go with the flow. She ran down the hallways, the general lack of soldiers as a guide. But she soon realised she had no clue where she was going, no clue where Winter would be or even how to get to her.

"Now what?" Blake mumbled to herself.

"BLAKE! BLAKE!"

Blake swung her head around, her ears twitching toward the sound. "Winter?"

"BLAKE! BLA- GAOW!"

"Shut up!" Raven spat as she brought her foot back after swinging it into Winter's face.

She growled as the Schnee crawled along the ground, bloody and broken. Raven had to admit, she didn't think the girl would get through what those men did to her. It was both merciless and disgusting.

"I thought you wanted her to find us." Adam said coolly.

"I do, I just don't want to hear her stupid voice."

Those two shouts were enough to get Blake back on track. Not only did it give her direction it gave her a new sense of urgency, Winter's voice was so broken and weak, Blake could only imagine what she had gone through.

Blake remembered that there was that small group of men, those disgusting filthy dogs, when Blake was in the White Fang all she heard them talk about was all the things they wished to do to a Schnee, just thinking about made her skin crawl.

That poor girl, gone through all this because of her. Blake would never ask for forgiveness, she didn't deserve it.

Finally she came to a door, she slowly creeped up to it before grabbing the handle. This was her chance to fix things, to make up for the pain that she caused. This was her penance.

* * *

"Oh hello Blake, I wasn't expecting you to come alone. Where is the rest of r, w, b, y?" Raven greeted Blake as she stepped into the room.

"I wouldn't know." She replied simply, glancing behind Raven at Winter lying on the ground.

Blake's eyes widened in shock as she took in all the cuts and bruises painted across the girls pale complexion. Blake watched as her fragile body shuddered and trembled. What has she done?

"Well I do hope they're on their way, this was meant to be a reunion."

Blake frowned, what did that mean?

"I came alone to make you a deal."

"Oh?" Raven raised an eyebrow, this was a new turn of events.

"Me, for Winter. Let her go and I'll hand myself over to you."

"Blake we aren't letting the girl go." Adam cut in.

Blake was about to argue, but Raven decided to cut in, again.

"Actually, I like the sound of that."

Adam turned to her, "You don't call the shots." He warned sternly.

Adam was slowly realising what this was about. This was about her and Blake, Raven didn't care about anything else, she just wanted Blake so she could be free. This wouldn't do, Adam wouldn't let all of this go to waste for some clone!

"Blake you should leave, the Schnee isn't going anywhere."

"I'm not going anywhere without Winter!"

Raven smiled, "Good, because neither of you were leaving this place anyway."

Adam reached out to stop Raven but was too late. She had dashed forward without notice, lunging toward Blake without hesitation.

Blake sprung back just in time, narrowly missing a swipe from Raven's blade. Raven continued to press the attack, a wicked smile never leaving her face. Blake managed to keep up, drawing Gamboul Shroud to clash against Raven's. Adam checked himself as he felt an urge to step in a stop the battle, but there was no reason for him to to do that, Blake was an enemy of the White Fang, she knew the consequences of leaving the way she did. So why was Adam having a hard time keeping himself under control?

Blake was more then relieved that Adam stayed where he was, she didn't need the added distraction. She really didn't expect this to go any other way, now she just needed Kage to do his side of the job.

Winter managed to lift her face off the ground and turn to face the source of all the noise, finding Blake in combat with that woman called Raven. That evil bitch! Adam was standing in front of her seemingly incapsulated by the fight. Maybe this was her window.

She moved slowly, so as to decrease the noise made by her bindings, the heavy chains around her wrist and ankles already torn at the skin. Her body ached and screamed at her to stop, every cut and every bruise feeling new with every move. The scabs and cuts around her joints reopened as she moved her body, blood slowly flowing free. She winced at the pain but continued to move.

Blake managed a glance past Raven toward Winter, just as the Schnee painfully got to her feet. 'C'mon Kage!'

Just as she made the silent pray the person in question appeared before Winter, his hand over her mouth to cover her startled scream. He motioned for her to remain quite and follow, them looked over at Blake and shot her a worried look.

Adam was watching Blake carefully, watching her every move and step, making sure she didn't make a single mistake, one that would cost her her life. But something caught his attention, Blake wan't looking at her opponent, she was looking at...

"You!" Adam spun around and found what Blake was looking at.

Kage and Winter creeping away from them.

"No!" Blake breathed as she saw Adam turn around. She let her guard down for a second and found herself falling to the floor.

She hit the ground just as a ring rang out as Adam and Kage clashed swords, Kage standing in front of Winter protectively. Blake watched from the floor as the two men fought each other, Winter helplessly watching along. Raven stalked toward her but she payed her no attention.

Winter was getting out of here alive and back to her sister, no matter what happened.

Blake rushed to her feet and used a clone to get past Raven, continuing on toward Adam. Raven spun around in confusion, which soon turned into irritation. With a growl she gave chase.

Gamboul Shroud collapsed into its scythe form as Blake ran, she quickly loosened her ribbon and launched the scythe toward Adam. She pulled back on the ribbon, firing the pistol and causing the blade to spin back around and wrap around Adams feet. Blake pulled on the ribbon and brought Adam to the ground, Kage looked up in surprise as his opponent suddenly fell over.

"Get her out!" Blake yelled, just before something wrapped around her neck and pulled her to the floor.

Kage took the window and lifted Winter into his arms running past Adam and toward the exit.

"Wait! What about Blake?" Winter asked, her voice still weak and broken.

"She'll be fine."

"Personally, I find that hard to believe."

Kage came to a halt as Raven appeared before them, blocking their path with a smile.

Blake turned over, peering up just as Raven stepped toward them. "No!"

She would make this right! She would bring Winter back to Weiss without hurting anyone else! Blake shot to her feet and rushed toward them.

Even if it cost her her life!


	14. Sacrifice

**A/N" Sup yo! How you're holidays been? Hope you've been having fun :P**

* * *

Kage took a step back, letting Winter down and pushing her behind himself. Raven smiled as she stepped toward them and Kage continued to back off slowly. Blake was moving toward them as fast as Raven lifted her arm into the air, her blade ready to strike, Blake knew she wouldn't reach them in time.

Kage could take a hit, but Raven's hits were anything but ordinary, even so, Blake didn't want to cause anyone any more pain, even if it was miniscule. She wouldn't make it, but she knew someone who would.

Raven really couldn't care less who she killed first, or who got in her way. She'd just get rid of them all anyway. Winter wasn't her priority, she was Adam's. Raven's priority was Blake, but she could always have some fun on the side. She got ready to strike the child before her, lifting her blade up and smiling wickedly as he backed off, the girl protectively held behind him.

But when her blade was supposed to cleave through aura and hopefully even flesh, she was met with the strangest site. It seemed that her reflection was blocking her attack, except her reflection was glowing gold, no not gold, more of an amber.

Raven took a step back from the figure, getting a better look at the person before her. Her eyes narrowed into a frown before realisation dawned on her.

"You? I remember you! How are you doing this fine evening? I don't suppose you have a name yet do you?" Raven said with her signature smile.

Luna took a step back and straightened up, "Luna, if you must know."

"Luna? Hm, has a nice ring to it. Who came up with that one?"

"I did."

"Ah, of course, I suppose we should get this over with." Raven brought her blade up again, removing the sheath portion of her Gamboul Shroud.

* * *

"Wait wait. Can you hear that?" Weiss paused and turned her ear toward the noise.

Ruby and Yang shared a glance and looked back to the heiress. They were in a grey and black hallway, somewhere within the White Fang hideout. The two of them barely kept up with the heiress when she rushed out of their dorm without so much as an explanation.

Now they waited nervously as Weiss apparently was hearing a noise.

"Sound like….fighting. We should hurry."

Weiss lead the way, rushing down the halls as if she knew where she was going, luckily she happened upon the right door. Her hand slammed against the handle and pulled the door open without any hesitation. The scene that met the three girls was quite, unexpected.

Blake was walking toward Adam, who was just getting to his feet. Luna and Raven were in a battle, and Kage was watching them with Winter behind his back.

"Winter!" Weiss called as soon as her eyes fell upon her sister.

Winter's head snapped toward the voice and her heart leaped with joy. "Weiss!"

Winter ran from Kage's protection, bolting toward her sister, but she only made it a few feet before Adam appeared in front of her.

"AH!" Winter yelled in surprise and fell back onto her rear.

Adam loomed over the younger girl but he's attention was forced elsewhere when Kage stepped up to keep the girl safe asked. Adam was forced back under the barrage of dual attacks coming from the shadow dancer before him, pushing him away from Winter with every attack.

Weiss saw the opening and rushed toward her sister, sliding to her knees next to her.

"Winter. Winter! Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm-I'm" Winter tried to lift herself off the floor but her arm gave under the pressure and she fell back down, her body screaming as it thumped into the ground.

"Winter!" Weiss grabbed her sister's arm to steady her, but the skin in her grasp felt odd and the way Winter flinched as she touched her made Weiss very suspicious. Weiss lifted her hand and looked beneath her palm, finally noticing the fresh cut running along her sisters arm.

Weiss' eyes widened in horror, a multitude of emotions flooding through her. Confusion, fear, concern, frustration, anger, hate. They all rushed through her in an instant.

"Weiss?"

Weiss ignored her sister and pulled down the collar of her shirt slightly, but it was enough to reveal the collection of fresh scars and cuts running down her sister's front.

Weiss' aura flared as she stared at the scars, her fist balled into a fist, scrunching Winter's shirt. Her eyes remained glued to the sight of her sisters tarnished skin, the azure in her eyes becoming stern and hard and cold. Ice cold.

Weiss turned her head and found Adam, still in battle with Kage.

"Stay here." Weiss said, getting to her feet and moving toward the faunas.

* * *

Ruby rushed to give Luna a hand, leaving Yang to find Adam battling Kage in front of her. Yang balled her hand into a fist as she watched the faunas deflect and doge attack after attack. The brawler had to keep her anger in check so that she wouldn't spontaneously explode, a low growl left her throat as she launched herself toward the faunas.

Adam only had a split second in which he looked to the side and found the blonde's fist smacking into his face. He let out a pained shout, landing on his back and flipping over onto his feet. Yang rushed him without hesitation, using his daze to her advantage, landing three more hits, ending with Ember Celica firing and sending her elbow into the side of Adam's head.

Adam slid across the floor, coming to a halt with his vision slowly calming down and refocusing. He growled in frustration as he got to his feet, he looked up at Yang, his glare hidden behind his mask. He rose to his full height and took note that the blonde's eyes were no longer a soft lilac but were now a deep red.

"Do you really want to do this again?" He said, wiping some blood off his cheek.

"I don't see why not?" Yang answered.

Yang took her stance and Adam smiled at her, holding his sheathed sword in his left hand. He pulled the trigger on the sheath and sent Wilt launching toward Yang.

Blake jumped in surprise as Adam was suddenly thrown to the floor with a bang from Ember Celica. She took a step toward him but her body froze as she saw Yang advance on the faunas and follow through with another barrage of attacks.

She took a step back as Yang's eyes blazed red, "Yang?"

Both of Blake's partners engaged in combat. Ember Celica booming as yang's fist became a blur of motion, but even then Adam kept up, ducking and weaving between each punch and kick. Blake watched on in horror as her worst nightmare came to life in front of her. The two people she loved were now fighting each other.

"No. Nononono! Why?" Blake started quivering as she looked around the room, looking over all of her friends wrapped up in some battle of their own.

Blake suddenly felt some strange sensation, as if something heavy within her was pulling at her. The feeling grew until it begun to hurt, she doubled over in pain, falling to her knees when she understood what it was.

She turned her head toward Luna and Raven and to her horror she found Raven hoisting Luna in the air by the throat, Ruby was crawling to her feet behind them, Crescent Rose a few feet from her grasp. Blake looked at Luna, something was strange about her, she was pulling back on their aura connection and she was hurting Blake.

"Luna?" Blake managed in a pained voice.

Luna turned her head toward her and the right side of her face was no longer a warm amber gold. It was slowly turning black, from the palm of Raven's hand some sort of darkness crawled out along Luna's body. The black continued to grow along Luna golden figure and the pain Blake was feeling grew.

She had to cut the link, but Blake was afraid of what would happen to Luna.

Raven smiled wickedly as Luna's struggling ceased under her grasp. She took hold of the clone and forcibly poured her own aura into her, poisoning the aura within her and twisting her being. Raven sensed something within Luna's aura, she sensed someone else's aura, Blake's. Raven's smile widened as she took hold of the connection and started pulling back, she pulled and yanked, Luna turned her head to the side and Raven followed her gaze, finding Blake kneeling on the floor in pain.

Raven tightened her grasp around Luna's neck, relishing the pain evident in Luna's groan. She made eye contact with Blake and in that moment, she took hold of the aura connection and pulled back with all her might.

Blake screamed in agony as the pulling suddenly increased tenfold and yanked on a much larger portion of her aura. She fell flat against the ground, trembling in agony, Raven showed no mercy. The darkness continued to grow within Luna, dulling her glow. Then Luna started yelling in pain as the dark aura swarmed through her own and consumed it, eradicating it and hollowing her out.

Raven laughed to herself as the two Blake's continued to squirm and scream in agony, "Hahaha, pathetic!"

Blake had to cut the link, she had to cut Luna off. Blake tried to stifle another scream but failed. She slammed her fist into the ground in frustration, just as she cut the link.

Ruby struggled to her feet, just as two different sets of yells filled her ears. She found Blake lying on the floor a few meters from her, Luna was held in the air by the throat. Ruby cringed as she bent over to pick up her scythe, readying herself to jump back into the fray.

As soon as Blake but the link, Raven's aura flooded through Luna, causing her to scream as all of her aura was mercilessly consumed and destroyed. She tried to wriggle free of Raven's grasp, tried anything to get away from the pain, but Raven merely found the struggle humorous. She calmly pulled a black crystal from her pouch, looking Luna in the eye with her wicked smile, before she plunged the dust crystal into Luna's chest.

Luna's screaming immediately stopped, her body went slack and Raven calmly dropped her back to her feet. Blake looked up from the ground, the pain slowly subsiding as she tried to find Luna. Instead she found Raven standing in front of someone that looked like Raven, the second figure was completely black, it was as if Luna had changed colour from gold to black. But how could-

"Oh no."

* * *

Raven looked at the, new and improved, Luna before her, taking in her handy work.

"I'd say welcome to the dark side but it's a little cliché isn't it?"

Just then the boom of a rifle rang out through the room, followed by a small yell as Ruby launched herself toward them. Luna suddenly spun around, she summoned a clone and dashed forward. She dashed toward Ruby, too close to the red head for the giant scythe the reach her. Luna lashed out with her katana, quickly slashing across Ruby's front.

Ruby yelled out as her aura was dissipated from the attack, she landed on her rear with a thud. She quickly got back to her feet as Luna continued to advance on her, her eyes an empty void filled with darkness.

* * *

All three members of team RWBY paused as they all heard their team leader yell out in pain. Weiss stopped stalking toward Adam and Yang, looking toward the noise just as Ruby hit the ground.

"Ruby!"

She was about to change course when Yang slid across the ground before her feet. The blonde quickly got back up, a fresh cut along her left arm quietly bleeding freely. Both Weiss and Yang looked back toward Ruby to find the red head back on her silver eyes set and unwavering. Before Yang dived back into the fight, Weiss whispered something in her ear, the blonde nodded in confirmation before firing her gauntlets and rushing through the air toward Adam.

Yang lashed out with her foot as she neared Adam, but the faunas swiftly stepped to the side, letting the blonde pass by harmlessly. Yang landed in a crouch, hiding the smile that spread across her lips as Adam turned her back to Weiss. Yang quickly closed the distance between her and Adam, Adam drew Wilt, sparks flying as it ran along Ember Celica's gold metal, deflecting Yang's punches.

Yang quickly adjusted to the tactic. The brought her right hand around in a powerful hook, this time not firing her gauntlets. Adam made to deflect the attack with his blade, but the punch was a dummy. At the last second Yang bent her arm inwards whilst taking a step closer to Adam. Her arm passed in front of Adam's blade and just as it began to curve back toward Yang and her elbow was pointed toward Adam, Ember Celica boomed and launched her arm backward, her elbow going straight for Adam's jaw.

Yang smiled as Adam spun around from the force of the attack, stopping in a daze. Yang shook her arm off as she felt blood dripping down it, during her attack her elbow slammed into Adam's katana, producing a thin cut along her elbow. Yang took up her stance with a smile as Adam turned back to her with a growl.

"Not so easy the second time is it?" She taunted.

* * *

Weiss forced herself to stay calm, blocking out the distractions around her. The noises, the vibrations, the heat, the anxious feeling deep within her. She had to focus her aura into her semblance in a way she hadn't done so often. The one time she had done it she had some help in the form of a white cape, now she was without it.

She stood side on, Myrtenaster pointing toward the roof in her left hand. She took a deep breath and three glyphs appeared in front of her, each one smaller than the one behind it. They spun peaceful in the air, a shade of light blue washed over them as Weiss continued to use her aura. She opened her eyes and found that the last glyph was trained exactly where she wanted it, at Adam's back.

She really didn't want to know what exactly they had done to her sister, she didn't want to imagine it, but she knew whatever it was it was no doubt horrible. There was no way in hell she was going to forgive whoever did this to her, she was going to make sure they understood how angry they were making her. Weiss was going to make the White Fang realise that they shouldn't mess with the Schnee family any longer.

She would make sure they spent the rest of their lives frozen in cold, unforgiving ice.

* * *

Raven watched on as Luna and Ruby fought against each other, in what Raven would describe as a pointless, yet humorous, act. She found the young red head almost adorable, using that oversized scythe and wearing that somewhat over confident look. Raven had to laugh at the scythe, it was really unnecessary, especially since the user would be in big trouble if her opponent got too close to her, then the scythe was useless.

But then again it did add a factor of humour to the display. But Raven couldn't watch forever, she had other things to attend to and it seemed Winter Schnee was currently left unguarded.

* * *

Yang saw that Weiss was almost ready, the trio of glyphs rotating peacefully in front of the heiress. Now all Yang had to do was keep the faunas distracted for a while longer. What better way to do that then give them what they want, a victory.

Yang waited patiently as Adam approached her, his sword sheathed and waiting. He fired and Wilt launched toward her, she easily blocked the projectile with her gauntlet, but Adam continued to fire Blush, launching a barrage of shotgun rounds toward the brawler whilst he dashed toward her.

Yang deflected each round swiftly, but the after the last shot bounced off her right gauntlet, Adam's katana came down and knocked her right arm out of the way of her body. Adam quickly spun his blade around, sheathed it and then lashed out in three quick successions. Yang took every hit across her abdomen, cringing with each sting.

Yang quickly gathered herself and pressed forward, Weiss should be ready now. A few meters from Adam, her left gauntlet boomed and launched her toward him, her fist trailing behind her. Adam swiftly spun to the side at the last second and yang had to quickly plant her foot so that she wouldn't continue forward away from Adam. But Adam come out of his spin with Wilt following behind him and slashing across Yang's face. Yang yelled out and reeled back, the slash just getting past her aura and creating a thin cut under her eye socket.

Yang's eyes flared as she touched the wound and felt the blood trickling along her cheek. Adam ignored her and moved forward, Yang met him halfway and threw a few punches at him. Adam waited for the right hand punch and when it came his way he smiled to himself. He deflected the punch with his sheath, Wilt sitting comfortably within Blush. He tilted the sheath so that the hilt of the blade was pointed at Yang head, at which point her pulled the trigger, launching his blade once again at the blonde.

At such close range the hilt of the katana slammed into Yang's forehead with a solid thud, Yang recoiled back but Adam was faster. He was too close to Yang for Wilt to completely leave it's sheath, so after it slammed into Yang's head Adam forced sheath forward, slamming the hilt back into Yang's head and re-sheathing Wilt in the process. Yang doubled back as her head was roughly battered once more, her vision blurred and she nearly lost her footing, she really hoped Weiss was ready.

Adam quickly brought Blush around, quickly taking Wilt out and slashing across Yang in one smooth motion. Yang was about to fall over but Adam grabbed her hand, pulled her forward and was about to plunge his blade though her body, if Blake hadn't yelled out.

"Adam don't!"

The faunas stopped his blade a hairs breadth from the brawlers chest, turning to face Blake. Yang's vision cleared up somewhat and she realised how close Adam's sword was to her heart, she tried to back away but he was still holding her wrist. Yang peered over Adam's shoulder and found Weiss' glyphs spinning rapidly as a softly blue glow emitted from each of them. Yang looked back to Adam and realised Blake was talking to him.

"Adam please, please just stop." She pleaded, failing to hold back tears. "Please stop fighting."

"Blake nothing you'll say will make me stop! I'm too far into this to back out now!"

"No you're not! Adam I can help you, please! All you need to do come with me!"

Adam looked at his former partner. The one that had left him behind in this dark place. The women who abandoned him. The women that he had cared for and loved.

"Adam you don't have to-" Blake paused as something out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention.

She turned and found Weiss standing with three glyphs spinning rapidly and pointed right toward Adam. Blake's heart dropped and she panicked, doing the first thing that came to mind.

"Weiss no!"

Weiss' eyes shot open and she quickly flicked her rapier to the side before thrusting it into the glyphs before her. The three glyphs exploded and launched a beam of ice toward the faunas, each glyph focusing the beam into a more powerful, more accurate beam.

Adam heard Blake call out just as Weiss fired. Not knowing what was behind and only knowing that there _was _something behind him, he quickly turned back towards Yang, he pulled her towards him as he jumped up and flipped over her head, landing behind her with his blade resting against her throat.

It happened so fast Yang didn't realise that she was facing a beam of ice until it had hit her.

Adam held onto Yang as the beam hit her violently, rocking them both as the force of the attack forced to push them backwards. Yang screamed as ice quickly began to crawl along her body and encapsulate her.

Weiss realised what had happened a little too late, moving her rapier up and out of the way after the damage had already been done. The beam followed the point of her sword, lancing across the room and along the roof, creating a line of crackling and growing icy spikes through the room.

Adam removed his sword before the ice could take it and threw Yang's semi frozen body to the side where she landed with a half thump, half crack.

"Yang!"

Blake yelled out and was by the blondes side in an instant. Yang's upper torso was completely covered in ice, her left arm had ice all the way down to her elbow, her right shoulder had a thick layers of jagged ice clumped around it and ice had crawled around her neck, ending in a series of jagged point and her left thigh was completely covered. Most of her right side was safe, but even then she was in a very bad way.

"Yang! Oh god not again!"

Blake already knew who to blame. She just had to open her stupid mouth and give Adam that warning. But if she hadn't Adam would be in a much worse condition.

_'But what about Yang! Look at what's happened to Yang!' _

Blake was already fighting herself, blaming herself for what had just happened whilst at the same time trying to convince herself it was the right thing.

_'Yang could die! How is that the right thing!?'_

"I-I- I can't. I don't know! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Blake yelled.

* * *

Weiss looked at the blonde lying half frozen on the floor, _'That should be that stupid faunas! Not Yang! Why did you open your mouth Blake!'_

"Weiss!"

Winter called out and Weiss immediately spun around to her sister, Raven was casually walking toward her. Weiss was about to launch herself toward her sister's aid, but Kage beat her to it. Appearing before the Schnee, and meeting Raven evenly. Weiss was about to join his side but something slashed across her back and brought her to her feet.

She spun around on the ground, looking up as Adam continued toward her.

Whichever one it was, one of the Schnee's was going to die.

* * *

Blake was still by Yang's side, tears streaming down her cheeks as Yang remained unmoving. She didn't know what to do, what could she do? She had to do something!

_'This is all your fault! Again! All you do is get people hurt!'_

"No! I-I didn't mean to! I couldn't let Adam die!"

_"Yang is the person you love now, not Adam! Now she's dying in front of you!'_

Just then Blake heard someone else cry out and not a second later Ruby landed on the floor a few meter's from her. Her scythe sliding away from her, Ruby tried to get back up but her arms failed her and she fell back down.

"R-Ruby?"

It seemed as if everyone around, all the people she loved, were being hurt. Which was exactly what was happening, and it was all her fault.

_'Your fault! All of it! Look at Ruby, look at Weiss, look at Yang! Yang! You love her and you betrayed her'_

"No! No! I didn't meant for this to happen! I didn't want to hurt anyone! I just want to save him!"

_'You can't save everyone!'_

"C-can't save everyone?"

In the middle of Blake's inner conflict, Yang heard it all and managed to mover her arm and grab her partners. Ice was cold, Weiss' ice was even worse, especially when she was angry. But Yang burnt hot, hotter than the sun, not even Weiss' ice could keep her down.

Blake felt Yang's hand against her arm and quickly looked at her partner.

"Y-yang?" She sniffled. "I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to-"

"Not unless you try." Yang managed to say.

"Wh-what?"

"It's always worth trying, don't you think?"

Yang rolled over and the ice covering her front broke away as it began to melt off her burning body.

"Blake, you're not going to save everyone if you don't even try. Stop thinking you're going to lose on of us, we aren't that easy to get rid of."

Yang got up and helped Blake back to her feet.

"Now I know you still have feelings for Adam, so I hope you didn't think I was about to let him die then, maybe Weiss might have." Fire was beginning to rise around Yang's form.

"Blake please stop crying," Yang said, wiping away a tear. "I know these decisions are hard for you, I don't blame you for anything, so please stop blaming yourself."

Blake looked at her partner with wide, desperate eyes. Blake needed this to end, she needed it to stop. None of this was fair, Yang shouldn't be saying these things to her, she didn't deserve them.

Yang leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Blake's lips, holding it long enough for her warmth to reach Blake and hopefully pull her out of the hole she had fallen into.

"Blake I love you and I always will, no matter what happens. I'll be fine, I promise you, I will still be here when this is over. Do what you need to do to bring him back, we'll worry about what happens after you save him."

"Yang I-I-"

"Blake stop thinking. You want to save him, so go do it! I don't want to sound cheesy but, love always finds away."

Yang winked at Blake, kissed her sweetly on the cheek and then quickly rushed to her sister's side. Blake watched her go as flames grew around her form and covered her in a golden fire.

She had to end this. She had to end this and she was going to save Adam in the process. She just needed to get everyone out of the way and she had an idea how, she just hoped Yang wouldn't forget her own words.

* * *

Raven was enjoying her fight with Kage, he had always brought something new. He was just an interesting person to fight really. With his magic tricks and shadow dancing it was all rather entertaining. But unfortunately this fight would not go uninterrupted.

Blake rushed into the battle, surprisingly kicking Kage out of the way and rushing toward Raven. Raven frowned at the sudden turn of events and was equally surprised when Blake offered her another deal.

"Like I said earlier, I'll hand myself in if you leave everyone in this room alone."

Raven smiled and stepped back from Blake, "What a deal! Of course I accept."

"I mean it, you let them go."

"Even better, let's leave them right now."

Blake was about to ask what that meant but Raven rushed toward her and then everything went completely black.

* * *

Weiss and Kage were very confused. One moment they were looking at Adam and Raven, the next they were gone, leaving them alone in the room. They looked around the room but couldn't find them, neither could they find Blake.

Yang had just finished pummelling what had been Luna, into the ground when she noticed the lack of noise. She looked around and found Weiss and Kage looking just as confused.

"Blake? Where's Blake?"

Kage shrugged. Raven was gone, Adam was gone, and so was Blake. That only meant one thing.

"She handed herself in." Yang breathed.

Raven said Adam and herself would leave them alone, she didn't say anything about the rest of the White Fang, she didn't even work for them really. Just then they came rushing in, pouring in through the two entries of the room, surrounding them all quickly. There were a lot of them and Yang was already questioning whether they would make it out or not.


	15. Save the beast

**A/N: Bit of a filler, but I kinda enjoyed writing this lol. Question to those who read the first one, the first one was better than this wasn't it?**

* * *

"What have you done!" Adam had to hold himself back so that he wasn't yelling.

"What do you mean what have I done? Isn't it obvious?" Raven answered, motioning around themselves, ignoring Adam's anger.

"Don't play with me Raven! I don't have the tolerance to deal with you anymore!"

"Aw are you just upset because the little Schnee girls got away?" Raven said in babyish voice, one that made Adam's knuckles go white as her tightened his grip on his weapon.

"Raven-"

"Relax relax," Raven held up a hand, "I highly doubt they'll get away from all the White Fang pouring into the room right about now." Raven said casually.

Blake, who was watching quietly until now, almost exploded from the anger that suddenly rushed through her.

"YOU LYING BITC-"

Raven quickly spun around and effortlessly backhanded Blake with her Gamboul Shroud.

"Language." Raven warned.

Blake was thrown to the side, her head thrumming painfully from the attack. She brought her hand up to press against the spot in an attempt to dull the pain.

"Honestly Blake, why did you trust me?" Raven kneeled in front of her opposite self, smiling wickedly.

Blake didn't even bother supressing the growl that left her throat, lunging at Raven with her sword coming around from her back.

Raven swiftly turned to the side, letting the blade whistle pass her harmlessly. She quickly brought her knee up and smashed it into Blake's forehead. Blake reared back but Raven stepped forward, grabbed her by the collar and threw her into the wall of the hallway.

Witnessing the sudden act of brutality against his former partner, Adam was about to intervene but by the time he had gotten through the internal battle of where his duties lie, Raven had jumped into the air, spun around and sent her foot smacking into the side of Blake's head, knocking her out almost instantly.

Raven and Blake touched the floor at the same time, the latter landing in a heap while the former landed gracefully on her feet. Raven landed and tossed her head to the side, moving her hair out of her way.

"Now if we are done arguing, I'd like to get my business over and done with, and I'm sure you would like to as well."

Adam remained silent, looking between Raven and Blake, unsure of how to react to what was going on. Raven took his silence as agreement and proceeded to move on down the hall, leaving Blake lying on the floor, a trickle of blood running from her head.

"Pick her up would you, I don't do manual labour."

Adam watched Raven for a moment as she continued to stroll away seemingly without a care in the world. After he had finished glaring at the back of the woman he turned his attention to his former partner. He walked up to her and knelt by her silent form.

Adam's gaze moved from the cute little pair of cat ears upon her head, down to her ebony waves that framed her face, down to her closed eyes, where he imagined there were those amber orbs he used to be fascinated with.

Now? Now they had grown apart and to Adam there was no way he could go back. But as he looked at Blake, he was reminded that she was the one that was yet to give up on him, and how had her shown his appreciation? With malice and rejection.

Now they've ended up here.

Adam thought of that time where he had listened to her and he decided not to fight. When he had left her to save her friend without a fight. That was the last time he had seen her, she had told him that he had a choice, a choice not to fight but there was no other way they could get what they wanted if they didn't.

But what was it they wanted? What did he want? Revenge? Justice? Equality? Did he even know what these things meant?

For some reason looking at Blake lying before him silently caused all these thoughts to pass by his mind and he had to shake his head to bring himself back to the present. Adam gently lifted Blake into his arms and stood up, only for another bought of thoughts to flood his mind.

As he looked down at Blake memories from a past time rushed back to him. A time where Blake was still with him and they were still together.

* * *

A few years ago

Adam quietly crept through the room toward the massive king bed at the end of the room. Its two occupants resting silently as it was late in the night, in fact the whole house had been asleep, just the way Adam needed it.

All he had to do was get close enough to the man sleeping in his bed so that his blade would reach his throat. Of course Adam had already assumed that the wife wouldn't be living any longer than her husband, considering there was bound to be some noise and the wife may be a light sleeper. Either way Adam was prepared to do what he had to do to make sure this went as smoothly as possible, at the end of the day the body count was just a number.

Blake was keeping watch just outside the room, probably concealed within the shadows that lined the massive Schnee house. Unfortunately it wasn't the owner of the company, just one of his relatives, but still, Adam was more than happy to exact revenge on behalf of the faunas upon the Schnee family.

Adam reached the foot of the bed and was making his way around to the man's side, his heart was beating anxiously but he still had excellent control over himself. He wrapped his fingers around the handle of his katana, his muscles tensed as he was about to-

BANG! BANG!

Immediately the man shot awake, the two gunshots more than enough to quite possibly awake the whole neighbourhood let alone the one house. Adam had a few seconds before the man noticed him, in which Adam was more than capable of killing him, but he knew that gunshot. It was Gamboul Shrouds call, Blake had fired two shots.

It was that thought that caused Adam to pause long enough for the man to see him.

"AAAH!"

His wife screamed as she saw the glowing red mask covering Adam's face but the man wasted no time. He pulled a rather large pistol out from somewhere in the bed head and fired straight at Adam. Adam had a split second to bring his katana up and deflect the shot, but three more came his way and while he was occupied not getting shot, dozens of guards and armed men pooled into the room.

Adam quickly realised this mission was a failure.

With that knowledge his new objective was to get out, alive. So sheathing his blade he ran for the door. He met no resistance on his way out and was a little surprised by it, but when he stepped into the hallway he realised why.

There were at least a dozen guards lying on the floor just in front of the room, either unconscious or groaning in pain, the source of all this was the cat eared faunas that had started all of this.

"Blake! Why did you shoot?" Adam half-yelled.

Before Blake could answer a high pitched scream ripped through the air. Adam turned toward the noise and found a little girl dressed in a night gown, grasping what appeared to be a teddy with all the might in the world as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Elisa!" Of course her father heard her yell. "Get out there and get them!" He commanded the guards.

Adam took a step toward the girl but Blake grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"We need to go." She said sternly.

Growling in frustration Adam followed Blake as they ran past the girl just as the man and his men burst through the bedroom door. Shots were quickly fired toward them, more than one of them bouncing off their auras with a sting.

Adam looked back, counting at least three dozen men chasing after them, the man had stopped to grab his child. Upon seeing that Adam remembered there was a second child, a boy, a few years younger than Blake. Just then he turned back to his front, a door in the hallway swung open and some sort of club came swinging out of it toward him. But Adam was too fast, his katana ringing as it was torn from its sheath and cut the club in two with ease before it was slammed home, all in the space of a few seconds.

Adam stopped in front of the open door, staring at the boy as he looked in horror at his destroyed makeshift weapon. The boy looked to him and gulped as he took a frightful step back into his room. Adam smiled under his mask, but his smile was wiped away when Blake grabbed him again and pulled him.

"Leave him, let's get out of here!"

"You saw the girl and panicked didn't you?" He asked as they ran.

"I didn't panic." Blake answered just before more bullets whizzed past them. One struck her in her thigh and she supressed a yell.

"Then what?"

Before Blake could answer they screeched to a halt just as more guards blocked their path ahead. But as quick as they stopped Adam had already taken out the closest man. Blake looked back to the guards still chasing them before looking forward and joining Adam.

The guard's arsenal mainly consisted of firearms and stun sticks, or firearms that turned into stun sticks, either way they were almost toys in Adam's eyes. The first man he attacked didn't even have the chance to swing at him before Wilt had sung its song and dropped him. Adam turned to his second opponent, easily parrying his attack, spinning Blush around and firing a round straight into the man's stomach. The man stumbled back, falling over one of his comrades, before they hit the ground Adam had parried another attack, spun around and dropped his third opponent.

The men attacking Blake were more confused than afraid, in the darkness of the night it seemed there were at least three of her, moving between them and dropping them like nothing. Blake was summoning clones even when she didn't need them, just to confuse and distract the men. Blake was forced to leap backwards as two men suddenly came crashing down to the floor, as soon as her feet touched the ground she was back in the midst of the battle.

She crouched low and spun around, slashing at three different guards legs. As they were falling Blake rose up, slashing at one of them as he fell, knocking him backwards. She summoned a clone to launch her toward the second guard, spinning as she neared him, Gamboul Shroud ringing as it lanced across his chest. Another clone launched her into the air backwards, she back flipped and by the time she was upright her foot had smacked into the back of the head of the third guard.

That made half a dozen guards downed in no more than a few seconds.

Meanwhile

"Have the royals been notified?" Their target asked one of his men.

"Yes sir, they should already be positioning outside."

"Good."

Blake and Adam

With the small resistance out of the way Blake and Adam continued on, smashing through the double doors that separated the bedrooms from the rest of the house. Off to their right was the front entrance and they made for it, not bothering with the door, instead leaping through the glass windows next to the door. They landed in a roll, both of them were getting up when they were both smacked in the face by something, something hard.

They bounced backward, Adam getting to his feet as anger was already boiling though him. What stood before him was a small squad of about seven men all clad from head to toe in what resembled pristine, white armour worn by knights in ancient times. It gave the men a rather intimidating appearance, especially some of their helmets. But neither Adam nor Blake were intimidated.

"White Fang scum!" The leader spat, his voice echoing in his helmet.

The remaining six knights formed a semicircle around them, keeping their leader in the middle.

"I go left you go right?" Adam said to Blake.

"When is it ever any different?" Blake replied plainly.

Adam huffed in amusement before rushing to the left half. The three of them stepped forward simultaneously, drawing their swords from their sheaths and hefting the shields on their left arms. Two of them stepped forward while the third one stayed behind, quickly covered by the first two.

Adam quickly lashed out three times at them, but they both brought their shields up and blocked the attack. As soon as his assault was finished they simultaneously spun around, their swords coming around to attack Adam from both sides. Adam swiftly jumped backward, dodging the attack before leaping forward. He spun around when he was in between the two, his katana slashing across one of the knight's helmet while Blush fired and the other's helmet. Adam landed behind the two knights as they staggered away when he heard a strange whirring noise from behind him.

He quickly spun around to find the third knight, his shield collapsed along his arm to form some sort of cannon which was just about to fire at him. As soon as the beam left the cannon Adam brought his katana up in front of him as he activated his semblance. The beam exploded towards him, a yellow column of dust infused energy rocketed toward Adam and slammed into the blade of his sword.

Adam held firm as his semblance absorbed the energy and was quickly storing it within him. When the beam stopped he slammed his katana home in its sheath, his mask glowing red as the patterns along his jacket did the same. The knights looked amongst themselves, unsure what to do.

"Blake! Get down!"

Blake heard the call and saw that her partner was glowing red. Understanding what was coming next she looked around for some cover, completely ignoring her opponents.

"Get down? Down where?" She said to herself, just as two swords came rushing down on her.

She quickly brought her katana and its sheath portion up above her head to block the attack. She was amazed she remained upright when the blow hit, both of the attacks together made for a powerful attack, Blake knew she was strong, she was just lucky she was this strong. But there were three knights attacking her, not two, so the third one was…. About to stab her in her open stomach.

Blake's eyes widened as she saw the knight rushing toward her, she quickly summoned a clone to take her place whilst pushing her backward. The two swords above her head came rushing down, through her projection and on top of the third sword.

"Blake!" Adam yelled.

Blake growled in frustration before leaping into the air towards the roof of the building, just as Adam released his semblance.

Adam spun around, the stored energy boiling to the surface and exploding out of his sword, creating a beam that extended past the blade of his sword yet still cut through things just the same. A red circle emitted from around Adam and rushed outwards in all directions, the three knights around him flew off their feet, their armour instantly giving under the intense power. The front of the house shuddered and what glass wasn't broken blew into the house and the door was thrown off its hinges.

The remaining three knights brought their shields up too late and were thrown to the ground as well. All that remained was their leader.

Blake reached the roof of the building just as Adam's wave hit it, rocking it and causing Blake to lose her balance. She may be a cat faunas, but sometimes it seemed she forgot herself. She fell from the roof and landed in a rose bush just below her.

"Impressive." The leader spoke. Adam recovered from his semblance and turned to face the leader.

Adam's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the leader.

"Can you handle this?" He asked Adam.

He was holding his huge longsword horizontally in front of him, the tip pointed at Adam. But his sword had split in two down the middle, where a barrel rested. The two sides of the blade were spinning rapidly around the barrel and it seemed to already be charged, all that had to be done was pull the trigger and Adam would be gone.

Blake stumbled out of the rose bush, her heart dropping as soon as she looked at her partner and the person in front of him. Blake knew Adam's limits and this was definitely past those. He had just used his semblance and wouldn't be able to again for a while, but even if he could Blake wasn't sure if he could stop this attack.

Adam may have done some bad things in the past, but Blake still loved him.

"White Fang sum!" He repeated before firing.

Adam felt himself being pushed out of the way, when he hit the ground he knew who it was.

"BLAKE!"

He watched as Blake flew through the air, the beam from the cannon pushing her along. She slammed through what was left of the door frame and continued on to slam into the wall inside the house.

For some reason Adam rushed to his feet, completely ignoring the man laughing behind him and the rest of the guards around him. Running to Blake and sliding to a stop by her side.

"Blake! Blake!" He shook her gently but she didn't respond.

Suddenly he was filled with fear and dread, emotions he hadn't felt in a while. Was he about to lose Blake? Why didn't it even mean so much to him? Adam shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. None of that mattered, what mattered was getting out of here, with Blake alive. Adam quickly lifted her into his arms and ran back outside.

He leaped over the fence and was quickly hidden by the shadows, running through the night as he looked down at Blake, her front seared and burnt, her eyes closed shut in agony.

That was the first time Adam wished, as in wanted more than anything in the world, to see those amber eyes.

* * *

Present day

All those memories rushed towards him without mercy, flooding through him easily. Blake had saved him once before and she was trying to do it again. As Adam looked down at her one last time, he hoped beyond hope, that it wouldn't end worse than last time.

* * *

**A/N: Adam my man! What's going on buddy? Poor bloke.  
Honestly though, I'm feeling the first one was much better, any ideas?**


	16. No more sacrifices

**A/N: Reviews please! Reviews, comment, questions, suggestions anything! C'mon!**

* * *

"This is a lot of people." Winter breathed as they all joined in the centre, the backs pressed against each other's.

"A bit of an understatement don't you think?" Kage replied.

"We need to get out of here, we can't fight them all off." Ruby said, drumming her fingers against her scythe.

"Easier said than done." Weiss said plainly, her sister placed behind her.

As they spoke Yang was struggling to keep her anger, and consequently her semblance, under control. Her hands balled into fists and relaxed multiple times and her breaths became deeper.

She told Blake to do what she had to, she didn't mean sacrifice herself! This wasn't right, it wasn't fair. All Yang wanted was for everyone she cared about to be happy and safe, was that so hard? Was it too much to ask for?! Why were there people like this in the world!

Blake kept running from her, she kept leaving her because she thought it was the right thing. It wasn't! Yang was sick of people trying to do things on their own, sick of people worried about other people. She was sick of sacrifices, sick of loss. All of it!

Ruby worrying about Weiss, Weiss worrying about Ruby. Ruby worrying about her! All this worrying just led to stupid, pointless sacrifice! She was over it! She just wanted to be one, happy, family!

"ARGH!"

Yang literally exploded. Her entire body suddenly burst into raging flames that rose high up to the roof and burnt anything near it. Her teammates jumped from the sudden outburst, they all turned to see what was happening.

Yang lunged at the nearest soldier, not bothering with her gauntlets, her fist alone was enough to launch the man flying through the rows of the others. Another punch sent a man to her right smashing into a wall, a large indent left behind where his body hit it. Another man managed to land a hit on the raging blond as she paused to breath heavily, her breath coming out almost as small puffs of smoke, akin to a dragons.

The man's blade slid across Yang' shoulder and when he pulled back the blade had already melted away. He stared at his weapon for a moment before Yang send an upper cut into his gut and launched him into the roof.

Her breathing was heavy and sounded like a low rumbling growl, like a raged beast being waken up from its slumber. Some of the men began to back away from the blazing woman and even her team was a little afraid.

What scared Ruby most wasn't the brutality of it all, but it the fire wrapping around her sister. Yang burnt gold, gold and warm, occasionally a little hot but most of the time gold. These flames weren't gold, no, far from it actually. Ruby watched in slight horror and fear as her beloved sister raged on in a blaze of crimson, raging fire.

Nobody moved as they were all too afraid to move their gaze away from the brawler. Why was she so angry? What happened to her? Ruby knew she had a somewhat short temper, but this, this was different. Something really significant would have set her off, she had never seen her like this before, never. Ruby hated to admit it, but Yang was scaring her.

Yang continued to lose herself in her blind rage. All she could see was red, literally her vision was shrouded by the red flames swarming around her body her world was plunged into a crimson tinge. The soldier before tried to back away, away from those burning red eyes, but Yang reached forward and easily lifted him by the collar. It seemed his friend was brave enough to come to his rescue, stepping forward, swinging his axe around to knock his friend free.

Yang stepped forward, simply grabbing the axe by its head, feeling no pain what so ever as the blade barely reached her skin before it melted. She yanked the weapon out of the man's hand with a simple nudge and before he could real away in fear Yang slammed his friend, still held by the collar into him. Throwing them both to the ground in a painful mess.

Ruby actually brought her hand to her mouth in shock as her sister continued to unleash utter, unadulterated brutality against the men. This wasn't Yang, this was someone else. Yang didn't burn red, she burnt gold. This wasn't her beloved sister, this was an enraged dragon furious at the world for everything it had done to her.

"Don't just stand there! Get them!"

Finally Ruby and the rest of them pulled their gaze away from the blonde, turning to who it was who yelled over the raging inferno. It was a rather large man, adorning a White Fang mask that displayed an elaborate design of red marks and swirls that marked him as a higher ranking officer. But what stood out, most of all to Weiss, was the enormous chainsaw her held in his hand.

"Forget about the blonde! Focus on the rest!" He yelled to those men who weren't on the same side as Yang.

The men looked at him, before looking amongst themselves and then finally turning to the remaining member of team RWBY and charging at them.

Hundreds of shots rang out as the rest of them fired their weapons, a mix of continuous bangs and steady single shots, as various types of weapons unleashed upon them. Before any of the bullets reached them Weiss had her glyphs ready to stop the bullets. But even as the bullets rained down on them from almost every corner of the room, there were still those who rushed toward them, seemingly unafraid of the torrent of speeding projectiles rushing past them.

Even it was a little foolish it still got Weiss to lower her glyph so that she could parry an overhead strike from one of the agents who reached her. The man was hardly any match for the heiress and he found his defence shattered and his front wide open as two slashes made quick work of his aura before a glyph sent him soaring back to where he came from.

Kage had already activated his semblance as a black dome moved around the room, passing by the White Fang and spitting them back out in a matter of seconds. Weiss remained rooted to her spot, keeping her sister safe behind her while she fended off anyone who came to close. Ruby was still watching her sister when a huge broadsword came rushing down toward her.

Coming to her senses at the last second, Crescent Rose came up just in time to block the attack. Ruby quickly snapped herself into action, she quickly tilted her scythe to the side, letting the agents blade ran down it before the agent pulled back. Ruby slammed the end of her scythe into the ground and using it as a pole she lifted herself into the air, spinning around it and kicking the agent twice before they hit the ground.

Yang had lost herself in the haze of red and fire that consisted of her own fury and flames. She was senselessly raging through the White Fang without actually thinking. Her mind had been overridden, the only thought passing her mind were ones of hate and anger towards the world, towards the people before her. She wanted Blake, wanted her by her side. She wanted to see that bright amber looking back at her, she wanted to smile at those adorable little cat ears. But she couldn't and it made her furious.

No more sacrifices!

* * *

Weiss watched as the man with the chainsaw slowly made his way toward her, dragging his weapon along the ground behind him. This really wasn't an ideal situation, she couldn't fight him while Winter was still here, it'd be too dangerous, but where could they go. There was no running.

"We meet again Schnee." He snarled as he drew nearer.

"I really don't have time for you."

Weiss flicked her wrist and just as the man placed his foot on the ground, a glyph appeared underneath him and exploded outward, ice bursting from the surface of the glyph and capturing the man within it, or so she hoped.

Weiss heard the roaring of the chainsaw before she saw that the ice that was supposed to have formed was broken away and collapsing as the man cut through it with his weapon. He quickly advanced on Weiss, swinging the huge chainsaw around at her. In an instant Myrtenaster was strengthened with her dust, taking on a red hue before the chainsaw smashed into it.

Weiss remained steady as a red field emitted from her blade as the chainsaw was buffeted backward. Weiss stepped forward, gracefully weaving her rapier around as it slashed across the man's aura. A powerful thrust had him stumbling backward before Weiss back flipped into the air where a glyph held her and launched her back at him.

He recovered just in time to swing his chainsaw back up as the heiress shot toward him, forcing Weiss to spin out of the way and pass by his side. She landed a few meters from him, sliding to a halt just as she realised the commander wasn't giving chase, instead he was stalking up to her sister.

"Winter!"

Weiss yelled out as she scrambled to her feet, but as she saw the commander hoist his chainsaw above his head and began to bring it down upon her sister, her heart stopped and so did the whole world.

But just before her world was about to be shattered, a figure in a red cloak appeared in front of her sister and stopped the attack with her ridiculously large scythe. Suddenly Weiss' world starting spinning again and everything was moving.

The chainsaw slid off her scythe and Ruby quickly spun it around aiming for the man's mask. The commander leaned back just enough for the tip of the scythe to pass by him harmlessly. But the scythe was coming back around and this time Ruby stepped forward and there was no way he was going to dodge it. The inside of Ruby's scythe clanged loudly against the commander's chainsaw, the vibrations running through the staff and shaking her arms.

The commander roughly pushed her scythe away and swung his weapon around at the girl in front of him. Ruby back flipped, the chainsaw rushing under her feet harmlessly and when she landed Crescent Rose slammed into the ground with its barrel facing the commander.

Ruby pulled the trigger, quickly pulling back on the chamber to reset it and fire again. Three shot boomed above all the other noises and slammed into the commander, pushing him backward just as Weiss rushed toward him and let Myrtenaster announce her presence.

The commander yelled out as he felt a sharp sting at his back and stumbled forward. Ruby took the advantage and lifted Crescent Rose off the ground and swung around once more at the commander.

But when the blade should have made contact with him, the tip of it stopped inches from his head. In a sudden explosion of strength, possible fuelled by his frustration, the commander shot his arm out and grabbed the handle of the scythe just under where the blade started, stopping it just before it touched him.

Ruby froze in surprise before she gave a quick tug in an attempt to free her weapon. But the man's grip was too much and before she knew it he had yanked the weapon out of her palm and threw it behind him. Whether on purpose or by accident, the scythe flew through the air and slammed into Weiss who was behind him, knocking her to the floor.

Now weapon less and defenceless, Ruby slowly began to back away before the commander rushed forward and grabbed her by the head. He picked her up and brutally slammed her into the ground. The sound was a sickening crunch and crack, the ground beneath Ruby's back breaking on impact.

Weiss watched in horror as Ruby was picked up like a ragdoll and thrown to the ground like she was nothing. But Ruby wasn't nothing and Weiss realised that she may have forgotten that fact for a little while, too consumed by her worry for her sister to think of anything else. Ruby wasn't nothing, she was the person she loved more than anything in this world, she was her sunset.

* * *

"Ruby!"

The high pitched yell, that was more of a shrill was enough to penetrate the thick cloud of fire and hate that had wrapped Yang up in a blazing blanket that threatened to never let go.

The name reached her ears and the way it was spoken caused the fire around her to flicker as if a strong breeze had blown past. Yang dropped the man in her grasp and turned around searching for the person the name belonged to.

When she found them, the fire around her form seemed to freeze. The angry flickering stopped and Yang's burning red eyes widened. Her sister had just been tossed to the ground like a sack of meat and the person who had done it was now bringing what looked like a chainsaw, closer to her sister's neck.

Why?

It was strange that Yang had the time to find the answer. Behind her beloved sister was Winter, who was watching in horror. No doubt Ruby had jumped in the way to protect the sister of the person she loved so much. Everything stopped and one thought past Yang's mind.

An angry, blazing thought.

"NO MORE SACRIFICES!"

The explosion was deafening and was enough to grab the commanders attention before he beheaded the red head on the floor. He turned toward the noise and immediately regretted being in that spot at the time.

Yang's left fist slammed into the commander's chin, Ember Celica still dormant, the punch was enough to shatter the bone right away. The commander spun around in the air as the punch threw him off his feet and he landed in a heap a few meters from the blonde.

The pain in his face was unbearable and his vision was immediately filled with tears. But the sensation in his chin was overridden by the amazingly intense heat he felt swarm over him as someone lifted him up by the collar. Yang threw him into the air, like a tennis player does a ball during a serve, before her other fist rushed toward his gut and launched him into the wall meter's behind him.

His back slammed into the wall and seemed to stay there as the force Yang produced was enough to lodge him a few inches into the cement. Fear gripped his heart as he felt that same heat from before, just as another punch broke his nose and what felt like the rest of his face.

Yang didn't really know what she was doing, her mind was just set to rage and destroy. Her semblance didn't help with it screaming 'burn everything'. Her eyes were the deepest red they had ever been and she could just feel the burning within and around her.

She grabbed the man's collar again, pulling him free of the wall before returning him there violently. The wall shook and it seemed everyone had stopped again to watch her in fear.

Yang could barely see the face of the man in her grasp. His mask had shattered from the first punch but even though Yang could _see _his face, there was too much fire within her for her to take anything in. All she could think of was one plea she kept screaming at the world.

Each word sounded as if it came from the belly of a blazing dragon and was complemented by a powerful blow that shook the walls.

"NO!"

Slam!

"MORE!"

Slam!

"SACRIFICES!"

Yang drew her arm back and this time Ember Celica whirred to life and extended along her arm. Ready to deliver the final blow, the killing blow. In that moment Yang had no quarrel with becoming a murderer if it meant she could get what she wanted. She would gladly punch this man's face into oblivion.

The commander was truly afraid. His face bloodied and burning in agony, his vision blurred and his eye stinging from the blood dripping into it. He couldn't tear his gaze away from those burning red eyes that glared at him with more hate and anger he had ever known. This was no girl, this was a beast, an angry beast. A beast who was about to shatter his skull and kill him.

"Yang!"

Yang paused, her fist coming to a jerking halt. She turned her head to the side slightly, that voice almost reaching her actual self.

"Yang stop. This isn't you, you need to stop." Ruby pleaded, struggling to her feet.

"Let him go Yang."

Yang looked back at the commander, but he was unconscious, dead or dying Yang couldn't care less at the moment.

Yang dropped him to the floor, where he crumpled in a heap at her feet.

"Yang look at me please." Ruby said softly, not sure how to bring her back. She didn't have experience with this.

Yang slowly turned around to face her sister and when Ruby looked into her eyes for the first she truly realised she wasn't looking at Yang. Her eyes were just so…red. Like the eyes of the grimm, eyes only pure darkness and evil could create, they weren't Yang's eyes.

"Yang, I don't know what made you like this but please, come back to me."

Yang stared at her sister, her flames flickering around her, slowly dying down and changing colour, from red to a warmer orange. Ruby took a step towards her, then another and then another until she was right in front of her, at which point the flames were just reaching off Yang's form and quietly flickering away.

"Yang it's ok. We'll get Blake back, losing yourself like that won't help." Ruby took a guess and presumed this had something to with Blake, it was a good guess.

"Blake? Blake is-" Yang trailed off just before the flames started growing again.

Ruby noticed and quickly grabbed her sister's arms, flinching from the heat but still holding on.

"Blake is fine, I promise, we will get her back ok?"

The flames died back down and Yang blinked as she looked down at her sister. Ruby forced herself to keep eye contact, no matter how afraid those eyes made her. Yang blinked again and their colour receded a little, going from deep red to a softer red.

"I just want us to be…happy." Yang said, "No more worrying, no more stupid sacrifices."

Ruby nodded and struggled to hold back the tears stinging the back of her eyes. She could crumble, at least not here.

"Me too Yang, me too."

Yang blinked and her eyes went back to their usual lilac. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief just as her older sister broke down and burst into tears. Ruby caught her but they both ended up on their knees, Yang bawling her eyes out into her sister's shoulder while Ruby tried to keep her composure and be the supportive sister for once.

"I just want Blake, I want her to be ok. Why can't we just all be ok? Why Ruby?!"

"I d- I don't know Yang, I'm sorry."

If Yang had anything else to say it was lost in her sobbing and wailing. Ruby held onto her sister and wasn't about to let go anytime soon, even if they were now completely surrounded.

* * *

**A/N: What do you reckon? Too much? A bit out of the blue?**


	17. Not a monster

**A/N: Ok so, I'm not sure why some of you are worried I'm not going to finish this, becuaaaase I am. If i wasnt going to I'd tell you, but i have no plans to not finish this. It may be a lot shorter than the first one, (some how), i have no idea how the other one got to long, but anyway.**

**My upload schedule is a bit wonky because some days i go out, or some days i spend drawing stuff, (which is RWBY related btw) or some days i just don't write. But just re-lax, I will end this and I will answer all your questions.**

* * *

This was such a strange week. Rech had never seen so many outsiders in their hideout all at once, in fact he had never seen _any _outsiders in their hideout, except that one guy who came out of nowhere and then left straight away.

But in any case, not only was there one person in their hideout, there were six of them. One was rumoured to be a former White Fang member, but Rech thought that was a little farfetched, anyone who 'left' the White Fang were never seen again, ever.

One of them was that man that he had seen before, the one who came out of nowhere. There was a young girl and her sister, Rech heard they were from that team from Beacon, Team RWBY. Now the last two, the last two were the ones making Rech's blood pump along with his friends.

Winter Schnee and Weiss Schnee.

Winter had been here for a while and Rech and his friends had already had their 'fun' with her. Weiss Schnee however, she was a recent addition and Rech was itching to have his way. He had already done pretty much all he could to Winter, whipping, stabbing so small that inflicted agonising pain yet hardly left a mark. Burning, beating, cutting, you name it, Rech and his buddies had done it. But what had to be the pinnacle of it all was the look on her face at the end of it all. In her tattered, shredded, hardly decent remains of clothing, the sight of which only excited them more, the look on her face was unforgettable.

She was just so broken it was simply hilarious, her eyes barely remained open, her white, pristine hair was no longer pristine, nor hardly white, stained with blood and dirtied with soot and grit. Her arms hung limp in their chains and her body slumped forward, her shoulders taking the strain. The pathetic girl kneeled in a pool of her own blood, supplied by the hundreds of cuts and lashes across her entire body.

With all this in mind, it was no surprise that Winter tensed in her new shackles when Rech walked in to the chamber.

Weiss glanced over at her sister as Winter's breath hitched and she made a visible attempt to back away from the man who just walked in. Winter's eyes went wide and she found herself unable to move her gaze away from the man. The one who's laugh was sealed within her mind, that retched laugh, the retched stench that came from his breath.

Weiss looked back at her sister and it didn't take her long to add two and two together, the cuts on her arms, the look in her eyes and her distress when that man walked in. Weiss had found the one who hurt her sister.

Rech walked in and smiled widely as the Schnee tried to back away from him, but of course she didn't make it very far. The rest of them watched him as he strolled toward them with a laugh.

"Ahahaha! C'mon _Miss _Schnee, it wasn't _that _bad was it?"

Winter didn't reply, she wasn't even sure if she could have, her entire body was trembling and she expected her teeth to clatter against each other instead of forming words.

"Bahaha, she's shivering in her boots!" Rech laughed and pointed toward her.

"Hey that's pretty funny." Another man appeared from behind Rech, Winter tensed up again.

"Hey Ven, we gonna have to come up with some new things to do to her sister." Rech stated.

"Yeah we are to. She looks like a lively one too, might be a bit tougher." Ven took a step toward Weiss and bent over to get a better look at her.

Weiss glared at him in silence, air rushing out her nose in angry breaths. They couldn't see it but the skin around her wrists was being worn away as she strained with all her might against the clasps. All she wanted to do was slowly freeze him in the most painful way possible before running him through. But no matter how hard she tried, the clasps wouldn't budge.

"You know," Ven straightened up and stepped away from Weiss and toward Winter. "I already miss this little, gem. We never go to…" Ven paused as he reached down and hooked his finger around the hem of Winter's pants.

Winter struggled to squirm away but those damn chains stopped her. A small whimper escaped her lips and she was on the bridge of bursting into tears. A wide, despicable smile spread across Ven's lips as he continued to look at the Schnee girl.

"…Finish up."

"Hey! Get your filthy hands off my sister!" Weiss yelled, metal rattling as she pulled on her bindings.

Thankfully, Ven paused to look over at Weiss, then he turned to Rech.

"Told you she'd be a lively one."

Ven moved back over to Weiss, moving within an inch of her face.

"Worried about your little sister? Well where were you during our little party then? We had sooo much fun." That same smile spread across his face as he reached over and grabbed Weiss chin.

As soon as she felt the touch Weiss jerked her head and tried to bite down on his finger, but he quickly moved his hand away.

"Didn't see that one coming," he said sarcastically.

"You're disgusting!" Weiss spat.

"Thankyou." He replied simply. Ven's eyes scanned over Weiss' figure.

"Hmm. I'm not sure if I like you more or not. You are a little, _smaller, _in some places but that's never stopped me before." Ven stated with a grin.

"Hey! What the hell is your problem?!" Ven stepped back at the new voice, looking down the row of captives toward the red head.

"Problem?" He questioned.

"Get away from my partner you pig! You're just filth!"

"A red head huh? Rech I've never had a red head before." Rech chuckled in the background as he watched Ruby's expression.

"Wha-"

"Fuck you!" Yang spat, the chains against her wrists groaning as her arms fought against them.

"A blonde? Well isn't this jus-"

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up! It's people like you that make this world so filled with crap!" Yang yelled over him.

"Oh? What are you going to do about blondie?" Ven teased.

This was ridiculous. Yang knew the White Fang were bad, but this? This wasn't bad, this was sick. Yang may have calmed down after Ruby got to her, but this pile of crap, was heating her up just as quick.

"I'll show you." Yang replied, her voice suddenly growing deeper.

Ven never saw it coming. He heard the noise first before he realised what happened. There was a strange churning noise, as if metal was being warped and twisted, then there was a loud metallic snapping sound and before Ven knew it, Yang had her hand around his collar and he was being thrown into the wall.

Everyone in the chamber jumped in surprise as the loud thud echoed through the chamber and that man was suddenly wedged in the wall. Yang quickly freed her other hand and was moving toward Rech in an instant. Her eyes were already blazing red when she reached him. She threw one right hook, breaking his jaw easily before picking him up and throwing him to the floor.

He came to a halt in front of Weiss and as she looked down at him, the prospect of freedom right before her, her blood boiled and her heart raced. The things she wanted to do to him, as she stared down at him she was consumed by rage and anger, her clasps creaked and they felt as if they were about to give before she felt something pressed against her throat.

"I'd get back in line if I wanted her to live." Adam stated, his blade lying against Weiss' throat.

Yang looked over her shoulder at him, just as she pulled Ven from the wall. Yang growled before yielding and throwing him into the ground and stepping back. Once Adam was satisfied he nudged Rech with his foot.

"Get up."

No response.

"Dirt bag! Get up!" This time Adam kicked him a little harder.

Rech groaned and got to his feet.

"Chain her back up." Adam commanded, nodding toward Yang.

Rech looked over at Yang, her eyes still blazing, then back to Adam.

"Move." He urged on.

Yang glared at him the whole way, forcing herself to let him chain her back up as his blade stayed at Weiss' neck. When Yang was secure Adam removed the blade from Weiss' neck.

"Now get the hell out of here, and take your disgusting friend with you." Adam commanded.

Once they heard the thud of the metal door swinging on its hinges and coming to a stop Adam took a step back and looked over them all. He turned to Yang, who was still seething.

"I wouldn't break any more chains, I'll kill them both before you even take a single step." He warned before turning to the Schnee sisters.

"If it's any consolation if I had it my way I would have killed you straight away," He said to Winter, "But unfortunately that's not how it worked out. I never liked those pigs."

"Are we supposed to thank you?" Weiss asked, "It doesn't make you any less of a monster."

Adam was going to reply but for some reason he thought he heard Blake's voice.

_'… not a monster.'_

"Where's Blake?" Ruby demanded.

Yang suddenly snapped out of whatever haze had washed over at the mention of her partner's name.

"Blake is, busy."

"Busy? What does that mean?" Yang yelled, puzzled by the way Adam turned and looked away.

"It means she's in the middle of something!"

"Wha- What is wrong with you?" Yang continued. "Can't you tell she still has feelings for you and you're treating her like a nobody!"

"She is a nobody! She left the White Fang that was her choice. She's lucky to still be alive, if it wasn't for me they would have killed her by now!"

Yang paused, _'Wasn't for you? What did that mean?'_

"So what? You're just going to leave her now? She's saved your life at least twice already and you still do this to her! You're a sick bastard, I have no clue why she still loves you."

"Because she's a fool." Adam answered softly, stunning Yang a little. "But this isn't about me and her, this is about you two."

Adam drew his blade and pointed it toward Weiss and Winter.

"I have no doubt you are aware of the battle between your family and the White Fang, the things you've done to us, the way you treated us."

"_We _did nothing! A child doesn't choose their father, or their grandfather!" Weiss argued.

"Don't worry about that. We aren't blaming you, we know who to blame, it just so happens that you are related to them, which makes you the perfect gateway to show them what they've done to us.

"That look in your sister's eyes, that's an image I've seen far too often amongst us. Caused by people like the Schnee's." Adam paused long enough for Weiss to look over at her sister. "And now, there will be two less of them in this world."

Adam stepped back toward Winter, twirling his katana in his hand easily. Winter stiffened as the masked faunas approached her with his katana gleaming in the dim light.

"Winter!" Weiss called out, already straining against her chains.

Winter watched in horror as Adam drew closer to her, her body tensed in fear of what was to come. She stole a glance over at her sister and saw her straining to get free and rush to her side. Then something clicked within her.

What was she doing? Why was she cowering like this? This wasn't right, this wasn't how a Schnee acted. Those men may have done utterly horrible things to her, but right now was a different story. She couldn't let the enemy see her afraid, the Schnee's were stronger than this, stronger than them. She wouldn't be getting over what they had done to her any time soon, but she was sure as hell not going to be afraid all the time.

Ruby, Yang and Kage watched on as Winter struggled away from Adam. Ruby looked over at her partner as she tried with all her might to break free, the look in her azure eyes bleeding desperation and fear, causing Ruby herself to tense up.

"Hng! Egh!" Weiss continued to ruin her wrists as she tried to get out, her eyes glued to her sister and Adam. Weiss paused her struggle when Winter suddenly straightened up and looked Adam dead in the eye, which apparently stunned Adam a little too.

She straightened up as best she could, holding her chin high and setting her blue eyes in a stern, unwavering expression.

But even so, Adam couldn't care less, all he had to do was run his blade across her throat and then it was done. He respected the child for her courage, but that was all. He took one final step toward her.

"Winter!" Weiss yelled, the links in the chains groaning.

Winter's composure remained rock solid even as Adam readied his blade, continuing to look straight into his mask.

The rest of them all tensed as they knew what was coming next. There was no stopping it. All they could was watch as their hearts dropped and they were filled with horror. Winter Schnee was going to die.

Weiss was trying, trying so hard. She needed to get out, she needed to protect her sister. She was her snow angel! This was her duty! Why were some stupid chains keeping her from doing that?! She wouldn't watch her sister die! This plagued her, sitting by and watching, she had to stop it! It had to end!

Weiss felt as if she was about to separate her wrists from the rest of her arm from the amount of force she was using to try and break free of the chains. Yang did it so easily, why couldn't she? Her sister was right beside her, right there! Not even a meter away! But she couldn't reach her.

WHY!?

Adam's blade came rushing down toward her throat, moving through the air with ease. Just another execution added to list.

But it was the first to not go as planned. It was also the first time Adam had ever hesitated. Something caused him to stop his sword, someone's voice. Blakes?

"Winter!"

The chains finally gave, Weiss' arm came free and she threw herself over her sisters body, throwing her arm over Winter's shoulder and shutting her eyes, waiting for the blow to come.

"Weiss!" Ruby called, watching her beloved partner throw herself in the path of a sword.

But the sword never came, after a few seconds they realised that Adam's sword was still held in the air, a few feet away from Weiss' head. He seemed to be frozen, unable to move.

"W-Weiss." Winter whispered.

Weiss slowly lifted her head and realised they were all unharmed. Weiss looked over her sister's face, Winter looked from Weiss to Adam and then Weiss finally turned around to look at him too.

He had lowered his sword to his side but was still staring off into space.

"GAAAAAAH!"

The scream was filled with pain and agony and it didn't take Yang long to recognise it.

"Blake!"

Adam's head shot up and turned to the door at his side. He looked back to the rest of them and then quickly ran out of the room, completely disregarding Weiss and Winter, leaving them alone. Ruby and Yang looked at each other before Yang strained a little and then the broke her chains again.

Yang removed the rest of her bindings before moving to Ruby and removing hers. Yang didn't bother to wait for her as she quickly ran after Adam, leaving her gauntlets behind. Ruby ran past Weiss and Winter and paused. Weiss looked up at her partner and nodded knowingly at her.

Weiss understood what Ruby wanted. She was her partner and the one she loved, but she was also team leader, and her teammates were her family. Ruby shot Weiss a small smile before chasing her sister.

Yang could already feel her body heating up, Blake's scream, the pain in her voice. What was this place? Who were these people?

Things just kept getting worse and worse. More pain, more suffering, it never stopped and it just_ had_ to be them. The world was a dark place. Evil and dark. Yang knew it was, but what was happening to them right now was something she would have never imagined.

But she knew it was times like these, the darkest times, where she needed to burn gold.

* * *

**A/N: Soooo?**


	18. Why are we like this?

**A/N: this piece of shit chapter right here, gave me the worst time of my life. I don't even wanna talk about what I went through.**

* * *

Earlier

"I suppose you could just drop her anywhere."

Raven and Adam stepped into yet another chamber that added to the collection of similar chambers that lined the underground halls of the White Fang hideout. Blake was still unconscious in Adam's arms, leaving Adam in silence for the entire time.

The flashback he had just had, it had just awakened more confronting questions he wished he never thought of. He understood what Blake wanted, why she kept pleading for him to stop fighting, why she was seemingly putting him before her friends.

Adam knew she didn't want to leave him behind on that train. She didn't want to leave _him_ behind, she wanted to leave that life behind. But that life, was Adam's and Blake knew he wouldn't come with her. So she had no choice but to leave him, but it seems she has decided to come back for him. She's come back to 'save him'. Save him from what? He didn't need saving, he was fine where he was.

Or was he?

How could he know, really? When Adam thought about it, which was something he couldn't help but do with Blake in his arms, he didn't actually know anything else. His parents were killed by humans when he was young and then the White Fang quickly snatched him up, from a young age all he knew was killing and violence. He didn't really _know _any other life.

In the White Fang he quickly learnt to despise and hate humans. They killed his parents, hated faunas, they were worthless beings. He would gladly kill any number of them without hesitation, there was no need for them on this earth. The White Fang reciprocated these feelings and gave him a means to act upon those feelings.

He really didn't care at all for the humans. Didn't care how many died because of the White Fang _or _because of him. It . Really. Didn't. Matter.

So when Blake had asked him,

"What about the crew members?"

All those years ago on that train his reply came easy.

"What about them?"

Adam knew Blake understood how he felt about humans. She didn't agree with him, in fact she hated the way he treated them, but she still tried to persuade him otherwise. Every time they were on a mission and there were lives ready to be counted as collateral damage, Blake would step in and make sure the mission was carried out with minimal 'collateral damage'. Of course it made Adam angry, but he couldn't do anything against Blake, she had grown too close to him.

"Why have we let ourselves become like this? Why have you let yourself become like this?" Blake asked him one night.

"Blake drop it." Adam already knew where this was going.

"No I'm not going to drop it. We were never meant to be like this. We're meant to be peaceful and fair, not violent and ruthless."

"The humans weren't listening. This was the only way, you know this."

"That not true. There's always another way."

"Blake why are we having this conversation? You know the humans are nothing to me. I don't care about them."

"Humans aren't nothing! They are people like us."

"They are nothing like us!" Adam spat.

"What's the difference then?" Blake challenged.

Adam was silent for too long.

"There is no difference Adam. The arguments we used against them apply to us as well. The only difference may be a pair of ears, a tail or some feathers. They are no different to us so what lets us kill them like they are nothing?"

"They _are _nothing!" Adam yelled.

"No they are not! Your just so blinded by your hatred for the ones who killed your parents that you don't kill which human you kill."

"Humans killed your parents!" Adam argued.

"I know that! But I don't hate all humans because I know they're not all the same. My parents were the ones that showed me that! I also know that faunas kill too, I'm looking at one right now! But do you see me hating every faunas out there? No, because some are good and some are bad."

"They don't deserve to live!" In the back of Adam's mind he knew he was losing the fight. But his parents were killed, he couldn't just let that go.

"Everyone deserves to live. The only _things _that I know who can kill people without hesitation are the grimm. The monsters. Adam what does that make you?"

Adam had no response. He wasn't a monster. That's what the humans called them. He wasn't a monster, was he?

That was three nights before Blake left him.

Perhaps of Blake had stayed she could have pulled him out of his darkness. But just as he was beginning to question what he believed in Blake left him, left him and took away that warm amber light with her. The light that penetrated the darkness.

She was back now and she was trying again, trying again perhaps because she had found a new family. A family filled with humans, a family she didn't wish to see killed by her own kind. Blake had much more at stake now and she was desperately trying to keep it all safe.

Adam still found it hard to go against Blake. When she left, even after their fight, Adam had done all he could to stop the White Fang from hunting her down. People just don't leave the White Fang. Blake had been his apprentice for a long time, even made him smile and laugh at times. Her eyes were something that fascinated him and they were something he missed after she left.

Adam definitely cared about her, just as she cared about him. But now that their duties lie in separate places, it was getting hard to keep her safe and complete his duty. Especially when she was risking her life specifically for him. Like right now.

He couldn't stop her, no matter what he told her she kept trying. She wanted nothing more than to get him out of this place, out of the White Fang, but there was nowhere else for him. There was no redemption for him.

But she was still trying, and she was risking her life for it.

"Didn't I tell you to drop her?" Raven said, bringing Adam out of his thoughts.

He didn't realise but he was staring down at Blake's face and had remained still for the whole time. He looked up at Raven and she raised an eyebrow at him in response.

"Why am I listening to _you_?" Adam breathed, gently laying Blake on the floor.

Adam took another look down at his former partner and her passed through his mind.

_'What does that make you?'_

"Now I'm sure you have business with the Schnee's so why don't you got take care of that and leave us alone."

Adam looked over at Raven one last time before getting up and leaving the room, leaving Raven and Blake alone.

"Well then, now that Mister, 'you're my enemy but I still love you' is gone." Raven spoke to herself as she walked to Blake.

She stopped by her side and took a moment to look at her, tilting her head to the side as if inspecting her for something, before kicking Blake in the gut.

"Get up!"

Blake jerked awake, gasping for air. She rolled over and got onto her hand and knees, trying to control her breathing.

"You're awake! How exciting! Now we can get this over with."

Raven waited patiently as Blake stumbled to her feet.

"Now I know we haven't had the greatest relationship, especially since I started it by cutting you off completely, but I would like to amend that, wouldn't you?"

Blake reached for her weapon at her back, but of course it wasn't there.

"Blake darling don't take me for a fool." Raven took a step towards Blake, "Now how about we reopen that connection between us two, I'm dying to see what your aura feels like."

Blake backed up but Raven rushed her, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her against the wall. Blake grunted when her back hit the wall, her hands flying to Raven's wrist.

"Now I'm not sure if you know what I'm talking about so allow me to inform you." Raven continued with a smile.

"You should know from that clone you call Luna that between me and you there should be a connection of sorts, one that kept me tethered to you. But a blocked off that connection and sustained myself with this little things."

Raven produced a small black crystal from her pouch and held it up for Blake to see.

"But of course that wasn't really true freedom. Without this little rocks I'm pretty much nothing, I need an aura to continue and the little bit you gave me isn't going to last forever, even with these crystals."

Blake continued to struggle against Raven, for someone reason her kicks felt weak and were hardly affecting Raven at all.

"But I knew if I came back to the source, which is you, and I, took, the source I'd be set for life. So what I'm saying, if this didn't make any sense and you haven't already noticed what I'm doing to you is, I want your aura. All of it."

Raven fingers grew tighter around Blake's neck and Blake cried out as she felt the tug. Felt the tug as Raven relinked herself to Blake's aura and pulled, just like what happened with Luna. The link went one way, aura went from Blake to the clone, at least that's what happened with Luna. Then again Luna was a good clone, Luna knew she could pull back on the link, she just never wanted to.

Raven on the other hand, Raven wanted to rip the core of that link out of Blake more than anything. So she pulled and pulled and Blake screamed and screamed.

"I never said it was going to be easy." Raven stated with a laugh.

It hurt, hurt so much. Blake's back arched against the wall and her eyes shut closed from the pain. Her aura was being pulled out of her, yanked free without remorse. A persons aura wasn't just an energy they possessed, it was a part of them, just like a limb was a part of their body. It was obvious having a limb torn from your body hurt, aura was just the same.

"AAAAH!" Blake screamed, thrashing her head around.

_'It hurts. It hurts so much!'_

Raven continued to laugh as she felt the aura join her. It was refreshing and reinvigorating, it made her feel stronger.

"It'll be a shame. All your friends will lose you and all that will be left will be me. How ironic." Raven continued.

No! This can't be how it ended. Killed by her own clone? No way! This wasn't going to end here, not at all. Blake came here to end Raven, not the other way around.

"NGH! GHH!" Blake tried to stifle her screams but it was excruciating.

"AAAAAAAH!"

Her breathing was ragged and she was beginning to feel very weak. She felt faint and distant as if she could pass out any moment, but the pain kept her awake.

The pulling was constant and it felt as if a Raven was just ripping parts out of her, tearing her apart chunk by chunk. Blake's nails dug into Raven skin and drew blood but she never let go, didn't even flinch. She just smiled and laughed as Blake squirmed in her grasp.

Blake was panting from all the yelling and pain, but it just kept coming. Her vision was blurred and she could barely see or hear. All her senses were fuzzy, the only clear thing in her mind was the continuous tearing within her. And then Raven got to Blake's core, the heart of her being, the centre of her aura.

Take that out, you take everything with it.

There was a pause as both Blake and Raven realised what was happening. Raven smiled and Blake's eyes widened before it hit her. She thought the previous pain was bad, this didn't come anywhere close to it.

A beowulf may as well have strolled in the room and ripped a whole portion of her chest out, leaving her to bleed out but the blood felt like nails clawing their way through her body before exiting the wound.

"GAAAAAAAH!"

Blake yell reached levels where it became more of a shrill than anything else. The scream continued until she needed to breathe again. At which point it happened again and she yelled out just the same.

Raven was nearly there, nearly at the end but then the door burst open and interrupted her. Her head snapped towards the door.

"Adam?"

"Raven? What the hell are you doing?!"

"What does it matter, she needs to die anyway."

"Put her down now." Adam commanded.

Adam glanced over at Blake and immediately regrated leaving her with Raven. She was panting heavily and her skin was ghostly pale, her head hung limp to one side and so did the rest of her body. Her eyes fluttered open briefly and Adam saw that the amber in her eyes were no longer amber, they were now a frightening pale yellow.

"You can't be ser-"

"Raven. Put. Her. Down!"

"No! I'm not putting her down unt-"

This time the door really blew open. It literally exploded off its hinges and Yang rushed inside. Yang took one look at Adam before her eyes rested on Raven and Blake.

"Blake!"

Raven groaned as she was forced to drop her as Yang was already rushing toward her. Blake slumped to the floor and fell in a heap, as if she had no muscle at all. Raven jumped back as Yang's foot slammed into the floor where she was standing before the blonde shot her fist out towards her. Yang hit her and Raven soared backwards, landing on her back and flipping back onto her feet.

She looked up just as Weiss, Kage and Winter ran in. Ruby had come in with Yang but she hadn't noticed. Raven looked over all of them, turning to Adam who was still glaring at her but didn't look like he was going to make a move against her.

After Yang hit Raven she ran over to Blake. Lifting her off the wall and holding her head delicately in her hand.

"Blake? Blake?"

She gave her a gentle shake but the faunas remained silent. Yang quickly checked for a pulse and was frightened by how weak it was. She was even more frightened when she saw the colour in her eyes. Those weren't Blake's eyes.

"Blake!" Yang sounded a little more desperate this time, a little more worried.

Raven was about to take advantage of Yang's position but then Adam stepped in her way.

"I think you should leave." Adam stated, remaining stern.

Raven looked between Adam and the rest of them before scoffing and leaving the room.

"Blake! Blake please!" Yang continued.

She didn't know what to do. There was no injury to treat, no wound to close. She didn't know what was happening to her partner.

"You need to get out of here. All of you."

Ruby looked away from her teammate up at Adam. He was telling them to leave?

"Get out and make sure Blake's fine." Adam paused, "then never come back."

"Blake!" Yang was still shaking her, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Adam looked at the blonde and stepped toward her. Ruby's scythe deployed instantly but Adam ignored her.

"You need to get out of here, right now." He said to Yang.

Yang looked at Adam, looked at his mask, wishing she could see his face. Her fist clenched, anger flooding through her momentarily before it vanished quickly, the feeling of Blake's slowly fading body in her hands washing it away.

Yang nodded to Adam before lifting Blake into her arms and heading for the door. Yang walked past them all without a word, Ruby remained weary, staring at Adam.

"That's it? Get out of here?" She asked.

"I can't let Blake die. Whatever you think of me, I still care about her."

Ruby hesitated before turning and running out after her sister. Stopping by Weiss who was glaring at Adam with her hand wrapped around Myrtenasters hilt, "Weiss we have to go." She said softly, grabbing her by the arm.

Weiss relented with an angry sigh, tearing her gaze from the faunas and moving out the door.

_'This isn't over.'_

Adam watched as they left, strangely the youngest Schnee stayed, the one he nearly killed.

"Why didn't you kill me?" She asked, showing no signs of fear given the circumstances.

"What?"

"Who had plenty of time before Weiss jumped in front of me. What stopped you?"

Who was this girl? What was she thinking.

"I-I-."

"It was Blake wasn't it?"

Apparently she was a very perceptive girl. "I think you should leave before I rectify my mistake."

"For some reason I don't think you will. Perhaps because you don't want to be the monster we all know you for."

Then she left.

* * *

**A/N: Winter always knows what's up.**


	19. Bring you home

**A/N: Now i think i said this before but I really don't think this will be as long as Two White Loved One's, so if you expect it to be it aint, but it should reach at least the 20's lol. Just a little reference for this chapter lets say Blake is wearing her alt outfit, it makes things easier haha. **

**Also, there have been a few anonymous reviews and i just wanted to address you all and say thanks. It's always good to hear that people are looking forward to reading the next chapter and get annoyed when I leave it on a cliff hanger, hahaha. So yeah thanks to all of you!**

**Also just another quick thing. Shout out to xT-Zealot for his story 'Souldbound' which inspired me a lot, especially this chapter.**

* * *

"Blake! Blake, c'mon Blake! Open your eyes please!"

Yang still didn't know what was wrong with Blake. What was happening to her partner. She just wouldn't open her eyes.

They had fled the compound and ran through the early morning darkness, moving as far from that place as they could, coming to a stop within the forest that ran along the outskirts of the town. Yang gently lowered Blake to the floor, her heart hammering in her chest.

Blake was barely breathing, her breaths were weak and shallow and limp in Yang's arms she felt so small and distant. Yang was consumed by fear and dread as she racked her brain for an answer, for anything to help, but she couldn't think straight, her mind was too hazy and flooded.

"She's barely breathing." Ruby stated, kneeling by Blake opposite her sister.

"I-I-I don't know why. There's no wound, n-no blood. Why is she like this?"

Yang stammered as she looked down at her partner. Blake's face had displayed the same expression the whole way, scrunched in agony. Her cat ears twitched and sat low against her hair, her jaw was set in a firm line and her eyes were shut tightly.

Yang picked up her hand and held it in hers, squeezing it gently as tears slowly slid down her cheeks.

"Blake…"

Ruby looked up form Blake's body to her sister, most of her features were hidden by her gold hair cascading down the sides of her head, but Ruby could see the tears falling from her face and landing on the back of her hand.

Ruby was just as confused as any of them. Was Blake even hurt? Was she dying? The uncertainty of it all only made it much more unbearable. Her teammate could possibly be dying in front of her and she didn't even know what to do, she was her leader, she was supposed to keep everyone safe.

Ruby's hand balled into a fist as she was overwhelmed with frustration. Her fist shook and she had to stop herself from yelling out.

_'This isn't right! This isn't how it should be!'_

Ruby yelled at herself as she hung her head low.

_'Is this what our world is really like?'_

Yang held tight onto Blake's hand, the feeling of it limp in her palms tearing at her heart. She squeezed it as if hoping to squeeze some life into it, into Blake, to bring her back home. She squeezed hard enough for her to feel something. It was unbelievably weak but it was there.

The slight resistance of an aura.

Yang's head shot up from where it had been bent over against Blake's hand. She looked up at Blake's face and the most welcome bolt of relief shot right through her. Blake's mouth twitched and her eye lids shuttered, but still remained closed.

"Blake! Blake!" Yang called out, but there was no response.

Blake's fingers remained cold and limp in her palms.

"Sh-she, her aura. She has no aura!" Yang stated.

"What?" Ruby looked up to her sister.

The rest of them standing around turned their attention to the blonde. They had been watching on silently, unsure of what to say or do. Winter watched on with her hand over her mouth and her eyes glassy and quivering, she didn't know the faunas well but she knew her well enough to not want her to die.

Weiss had her hand wrapped around her hilt, her knuckles white against the strain she was putting on them. Her face showed an expression of anger and frustration but as she looked at her teammate, the black knight to her white queen, she was praying and hoping with every fibre of her being that she would just open her eyes.

Kage stood a little further away, watching on silently. If he could help it would've been the first thing he would've done, but he didn't know what was wrong with the girl. He didn't want her to die, he had been looking for her for so long. So he too was hoping she would wake up.

"There's hardly any aura! Feel her hand." Yang explained quickly, moving closer to Blake's body.

Ruby placed her hand over Blake's left hand, she held it there for a moment before feeling it. Her breath hitched as she was astonished by how faint it was.

Yang leaned forward and placed her hand over Blake's chest, flaring her own aura in hopes of receiving some sort of response. The response she got only frightened her more.

It was if small fingers brushed past her palm weakly, touching the inside of her hand before brushing away. It was so faint Yang thought she had missed it, as if it was a small breeze in the wind, but it felt too much like Blake for Yang to miss it.

_'Why? Why is it so weak?!' _Yang asked herself.

"Her core, it feels broken, it feels smaller. It doesn't feel whole." Yang tried to explain, she herself didn't know what she felt, but she just knew that not all of Blake was there, something was missing.

"She needs aura, whatever happened to her she won't last long. Nobody could with that little aura." Ruby stated, watching Blake's face in amazement.

"How can we just _give _her aura?" Winter asked, speaking for the first time since they arrived.

"No you can." Ruby interrupted.

All four heads turned to the red head.

"It's possible I'm sure it is. It was mentioned in that book and I didn't find out more about it until recently. One person can directly offer their aura to someone else, but the other person has to accept it. Even then the aura's themselves have to accept each other or else it gets rejected and apparently that hurts, a lot." Ruby explained.

Not a second after she finished Yang spoke up, "Tell me how."

There was a shot silence between them all.

"Ruby tell me! There's no time you said it yourself!"

"But it could go horribly wrong and the-"

"Ruby please!" Yang pleaded, turning to her sister, her soft lilac eyes glassy and desperate.

Ruby relented. There was nothing else they could do really. It would take too long for Yang to make a vessel of her aura like that necklace Ruby made for Weiss, so this was the next best thing, it was the only thing. But Ruby's fear of Yang hurting herself badly and possibly killing Blake made her hesitate, but when Ruby looked at her sisters face she recognised it as the face she herself had worn when Weiss was in danger. Ruby knew she couldn't stop Yang from doing this, it wouldn't be fair.

Besides, if any two people should be compatible it should be these two, right?

Ruby shoved the shred of doubt out of her mind as she quickly explained what she knew to Yang.

"From what I read," Ruby paused as Weiss shot her an uncertain look, but she continued on. "You need to mould your aura, as if you're using your semblance. But you need to direct it outward toward Blake, not into the manifestation of your semblance. It's similar to using a semblance, but very different at the same time."

Yang nodded as she got her herself into position, moving closer to Blake's head and placing one hand on her chest and holding Blake's hand in the other.

"Then what?" Yang asked.

"And then we hope Blake knows what going on and lets you in, and _then _we hope your auras don't reject each other."

"Light and dark." Winter whispered softly, looking over the two partners.

Weiss shot her a glance but remained silent.

Yang didn't even ask what would happen if it did reject, there was no reason to know if it wasn't going to happen. Yang was going to save Blake, she _was _going to bring her home.

Yang took a deep breath, looked at her partner and felt her faint aura in her palm.

"I'm coming to get you Blake."

Yang started slowly. Remembering what Ruby said and trying to put her words into action. Yang had never believed in the saying, 'easier said than down' more in her life than in that moment.

She focused her aura, flaring it slightly, issuing a slight golden outline around her figure. So now she just had to mould it and push it towards Blake?

Yang balled her aura into her palm at Blake's chest. The glow at her palm intensified, warm and gold. Sweat formed at Yang's brow from concentration as she held the aura there. Then she gave it to Blake?

Yang didn't know exactly what that meant.

_'So do I just, push it toward her?'_

As soon as Yang did that she knew she was wrong. She pushed it outward and instinctively manifested it into her semblance. Her body burst into flames, her palm almost exploding from the amount of aura there. The flames rose high and licked around at their surroundings.

Ruby, Weiss and Winter moved back from the blonde as the fire raged on. Yang's eyes shot open and she looked around, clearly she had made a mistake. She began to panic as Blake's figure was hidden by her flames.

_'What do I do what do I do!? Ruby said not to use my semblance, that the process was very similar. I gotta get this right!'_

"Yang!" Ruby's call never reached Yang's ears over the roar of her flames.

Ruby was about to jump in but Weiss over and held her back. Ruby looked back at her partner with a questioning look, but Weiss remained as calm as ever, convincing Ruby to stay back for now.

The glow in Yang's palm hadn't died out and reached them even through the flames, giving the fire a true golden appearance. Yang noticed the accumulation of aura still in her palm by Blake's chest and began to try again. Her semblance remained active, perhaps in an attempt to make it easier for Yang.

Yang started from the beginning, focusing her aura, molding it and radiating it. Before she tried to give it to Blake she closed her eyes and formed an image in her mind. An image of road branching off into two directions.

One led down to a forest, but this forest was ablaze, the bright red flames raging on destroying the forest. The sky above the forest was a dark orange hue as the ash and dust covered the sun and masked it's glow. A horrible sight, even if Yang had conjured it.

The second path led straight forward. There was nothing to the side of it, nothing above it. It was simply a path that led to one thing. The one thing that Yang needed most. Blake.

Blake stood at the end of the path, waiting patiently for Yang to some to her. That beautiful smile that Yang longed for beckoning to her. Her ears were free, the ribbon that usually hid them fluttering in the wind behind her. Blake looked at Yang and held her hand out to her.

"I'd take this path any day."

* * *

In her mind Yang was walking down the path, in reality the glow in her palm intensified and the flames died down. Yang's entire figure began to shine as her aura rose to new levels as it readied to be given to Blake. When the rest of them looked closely at the faunas they could see the very faint hue of a black outline over her body, steadily coming to life and growing.

Yang continued to move down the path in her mind, hoping that underneath her palm in reality what she planned would happen _was _happening. A quarter of the way down the path yang couldn't help herself, Blake was right there, right in front of her. So she started running.

She started running and when she reached halfway she wished she hadn't.

At first she was very confused, Blake's face contorted, her smile faded and her lips parted as she yelled out. Her eyes shut tight as she fell to her knees, her screams reaching Yang's ears and sending her heart into a frantic race.

"Wha-what's happening?"

Blake keeled over clutching her chest tightly, her face stricken with pain. Her head arched back and she screamed to the sky, the sight of it frightening Yang more than anything else. Yang took an involuntary step away from Blake but when Blake looked at Yang, her amber eyes pleading with her to end her suffering, Yang bolted.

"Blake! Blake I'm coming it's okay!"

She ran down the path, her heart racing just as fast as she was. Blake fell over onto her side, clawing at the ground in reflex as pain washed through her.

"Bla- Gawh!"

Yang was thrown to her feet unexpectedly. A wave of immense heat hit her from the side. She looked up from the ground to the source, her eyes widening in horror. The blaze from the other path had reached them, somehow burning on nothing as if it moved here by its own will.

The fire was hot and it burnt. Yang had never been burnt before and for the first time it was excruciating. The fire grabbed at her legs, searing her flesh. She quickly tucked her legs in as she yelled out. Scrambling to her feet she turned back to Blake, strangely another figure had joined them.

He was standing over Blake as he looked down at her, not offering any help but not showing any aggression. Then he turned to face Yang and when Yang saw his mask all she knew in that moment was anger and hatred.

"Adam!" She growled.

* * *

Ruby was losing it. She had no idea what was happening. She wanted to stop the screaming, stop the fire, stop it all but she didn't know how to. When she tried to get close to her sister she burnt her hands, Weiss pulling her back as she cried out.

Blake and Yang were screaming, screaming in pain and Yang's flames were growing more furious. Their screams were horrible, filling the air with pain and agony. They watched on in horror as their two figures became a mess of fire and glowing light, one that also seemed out of control.

"Yang!" Ruby tried.

"She can't hear you." Weiss stated.

Weiss had her arms wrapped around Ruby's waist from behind, holding her back as she struggled to break free and rush to her sister.

"Ruby please stop. There's nothing to be done." Weiss pleaded as Ruby continued to fight against her.

"Weiss we can't just stand here! Of all people _you _would understand!"

"Ruby if you go anywhere near her she _will _burn you. She doesn't know what's happening, you have to let her fight it."

"She's in pain Weiss! They're screaming! Make them stop!"

Ruby went limp in Weiss' arms and they both fell to their knees. Blake yelled out again and Yang was soon to follow. Ruby cried out as she tried to block the noise out with her hands, Weiss turned her around and pulled her into a hug. Ruby buried her head into Weiss, pulling on her dress as the screams continued to torment her. Weiss placed her hands over Ruby's ears and then somehow everything went silent. Ruby looked up at Weiss, tears running down her face as she tried to understand. Weiss smiled back at her and gently leaned forward and leaned her forehead against Ruby's. Ruby remained stunned for a moment before bursting into tears and wrapping her arms around Weiss.

Weiss would gladly take away the pain from Ruby, even if it meant being subject to it herself.

* * *

Why was Adam here? He shouldn't be here! Unless Blake brought him here, Blake does want to save him.

The fire washed over Yang again and she screamed in agony, her jacket burning and the leather melting against her skin.

_'Maybe she want him and not me! Maybe she loves him more!'_

_'No! Why would you say that? Blake loves me, even if she loves him too she would never leave me!'_

_'Are you sure?'_

Why was she having this thought? Blake loved her, she knew she did.

"GAAH!"

Yang fell to her hands and knees as the blaze continued to chase behind her, relentlessly burning whatever it touched. Adam had remained still this whole time, standing in front of Blake and watching Yang silently.

_'She want to be with him, she wants to go back.'_

_'No she doesn't!'_

_'Yes she does.'_

_'No she doesn't!'_

"AARGH! GAAAHR!"

Yang rolled over onto her back, the blaze had won, she had lost. Adam was here, Blake could have him, let the fire take her away from Blake. If Yang never got close to Blake, none of this would be a problem, so just let the fire take her.

Yang watched the sky as it slowly went from blue, to orange, to black and then to red. She didn't want to succumb to the pain, to the fire but she couldn't help but scream in agony as the fire took her whole body.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARH!"

Weiss' head shot up from Ruby's toward Yang. The scream rang out through the forest and it was shrill and dripping in agony. But what made the heiress fill with fear was the way the fire around the blondes body exploded.

The fire flared outwards briefly before rushing back in and bursting straight into the sky as her voice rang out. The fire grew hotter and darker, shooting high, breaching the tree line with ease. Weiss watched with dread as it seemed it was all about to come to an end, but as quick as it happened it stopped.

The fire suddenly stopped and sunk back down with a whoosh, returning back to its regular flickering.

What was going on?

* * *

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I don't know whether to be offended or sorry."

This was odd, this wasn't what was supposed to happen.

"Yang I'm talking to you." Blake searched the blonde for signs of life. "Yang?"

"B-Blake?" Why was Blake standing in front of her holding her by the hand.

"You gave up on me that easily?" Blake asked, with a slightly offended expression.

"Gave up on you? But Adam was going to take you." The way Yang said it made it sound as if she wasn't sure herself.

"Yang I don't want Adam, I want you. I love _you._"

"But you love Adam too."

"I know that, but I _need _you. I lived two years without him, I left him. I couldn't handle a single hour with you gone, let alone leave you. Yang I love you and I'm sorry that maybe I have confused you all. But I would never, ever choose Adam over you, trust me."

Yang did.

"I-I'm sorry, for doubting you."

"You're forgiven." Blake quickly said with that smiled.

Yang couldn't help but smile back.

"What?" Blake asked with a laugh.

"I love you so much."

"I know you d-hmmmm!"

Yang pulled back from the kiss, she didn't want. By far did she want to. It made her feel so relieved, so relieved, to have Blake in her arms and their lips pressed together. She never wanted to let her go, never again did she want to lose her, or even come close to it. She wanted her right by her side for the rest of her life.

And she would be.

"I'm never letting you leave me like this ever again." Yang said softly, their faces inches from each other.

"I don't ever want to leave you again anyway." Blake replied.

After a short silence as they held each other, the way they held on to each other making an example of the promises they just made, Blake spoke.

"Besides, I don't think you'll be able to leave me now."

Blake stepped back and pulled the collar of her shirt down to the side, exposing her chest a little. Yang frowned at eh strange actions, unsure of what her partner was getting at before she saw what Blake wanted her to see.

In an otherwise, skin coloured environment, where Yang had placed her hand over Blake's chest sat a warm golden glow, softly radiating outwards. Blake smiled as Yang's eyes widened in surprise.

"Of course Yang I let you in, I wouldn't want anyone else."

* * *

**A/N: Think of the next chapter as a continuation of this one.**


	20. Home sweet home

**A/N: Song for reference-Wings vol 1**

* * *

Yang opened her eyes and she was suddenly no longer standing on that path with Blake, but she was back in the forest with the rest of her team around her. She blinked and looked at Weiss, her sister buried in her clothing, Weiss blinking at her wordlessly. Winter had tears streaming down her face and Kage seemed very on edge.

Something told her what happened in her mind wasn't all in her mind.

Ruby must have sensed something because she pulled away from Weiss and turned around. Her eyes were reddened and her cheeks stained with trails of tears.

"Yang!" Ruby was about to rush to the blonde but stopped herself as she looked at Blake. "Is she…"

Yang followed her gaze and looked at Blake. She looked at her hand where it rested on Blake's chest and slowly moved it away. The warm, gold glow was still there and as Yang moved her hand away it stayed there. When Yang's hand was by her side everyone was staring at the golden glow coming from Blake's chest.

"Blake?" Yang said softly, tapping her hand gently.

Blake's eyes twitched and she rolled her head over and then woke up with a groan. She blinked a couple of times and took a look at everyone around her before Yang pulled her off the ground. She sat up with another groan as she rubbed the back of her head, she turned to Yang and the blonde offered her a warm smile which she gladly returned.

"Blake?"

Blake turned to face her red headed leader. Blake's heart skipped a beat when she looked at her. Her eyes were shimmering from tears welled up there and her cheeks were just the same as those same tears rolled down her face. Ruby remained silent for a moment and Blake began to feel a little uneasy about what happened to the red head, possibly what _she _had done to the red head, and by the looks of things it wasn't just Ruby.

Weiss was looking stunned beyond reason and Winter looked just like Ruby. Even Kage didn't look right.

"Uh wh-"

Blake wanted to ask questions but Ruby had dived into before she could finish her sentence and had her arms wrapped around her and was holding on quite well. Ruby buried her head in Blake's shirt and just cried.

If she was saying something Blake couldn't make it out, the words were too muffled by her person and Ruby's crying. Now it was Blake's turn to look shocked.

She looked up at Weiss for an explanation but Weiss herself looked as if she was about to break down.

"Ruby I-" Blake tried to think of something to say, anything really. "Ruby please stop crying." Blake tried again, gently pulling the girl off of her.

Ruby pulled back and wiped her eyes but she was still crying. "Y-You were screaming. Screaming so loud you scared me." Ruby managed to say.

"Screaming?" Blake said softly, turning back to Yang, a wave of realisation washing over them both. "Oh."

Ruby fell back into Blake and the faunas could only pull the red head close and try to sooth her worries. Yang joined them and covered them both with her arms, her warmth spreading to them both and Ruby began to feel just that little better. But then she felt it from somewhere else as well, she felt it just underneath her cheek where it was pressed against Blake's chest.

She felt Yang there, in Blake's heart and she knew it had worked. But she could still hear them screaming. Hear their agony, feel it in her bones. The noises echoed in her mind and tormented her. She couldn't shake them, couldn't get them out, couldn't-

"One life, is not a long time, when you're waiting for a small sign."

But then Blake started, singing?

"Patience, is hard to find. Shadows seem to fill your life. Don't be disappointed, don't let your heart break, don't spend another minute in, this, way. It's, okay."

Blake could sing? It didn't matter because she was doing it right now and it was beautiful. A slow, soft, beautiful sound left her lips and filled the air. It did more than calm them all, as Blake sung the noises in Ruby's head were drowned out. The screaming and yelling was overwhelmed by the sound of Blake's voice and that was all Ruby could hear, all she wanted to hear in that moment.

Apparently it was also a song Yang knew, because she joined in with her partner.

"Dry your eyes now, baby. Broken wings won't hold you down. You'll take fights to em' baby, you'll be lifted up, and you'll be, there."

After the two partners had finished their impromptu duet and rid Ruby of her terrors and nightmares, there was a moment silence between them. A silence in which they were finally all back together and they knew it.

"Can we just," Ruby started softly, "all go back home now?"

* * *

"Home sweet home!" Yang announced as they arrived at their door in the hallway.

She fiddled for her scroll and keyed the door, which opened with a much welcomed, click.

"RWBY!?"

Yang paused just as she was about to swing the door open, turning down the hall to meet the gazes of team JNPR.

"Hey guys!" Yang waved.

"Where have you been running off to lately? You just disappear." Jaune asked.

The members of team RWBY exchanged glances amongst themselves.

"Uh, hehe." Yang began with a nervous chuckle. "You know, out saving the world and stuff."

"Riiiiight." Jaune breathed, "Well you missed some great stuff."

"Nora got to spar Cardin in class." Ren stated.

"She kept going for his legs though." Pyrrah added.

"Damn straight!" Nora yelled, causing Ruby to laugh and the others to smile.

"Blake what happened to your arm?" Pyrrah sounded alarmed, noticing the makeshift bandage around her arm.

Blake looked down at the arm in question and just remembered she hadn't received proper treatment for the injury, her ribbon was still tied around it and there was dried blood crusted around the edges.

"Oh," Blake hid the arm behind her back, "nothing really, just a scratch."

Pyrrah shot her a suspicious look, eyeing the faunas.

"Erghem!" Weiss cleared her throat. "We've had a rather long week, so not to be rude, but we'd like to head inside and have a rest. So if you'll excuse us."

Weiss ushered her team into the room, but was stopped by Jaune once again.

"Who's this?" Jaune waved to Winter, JNPR had never seen her before, or heard of her.

Winter turned to the blonde and offered him a bright smile, which made him blush a little. Pyrrah shot him a look but didn't say anything.

"Winter, Weiss' sister." Winter introduced herself.

Weiss went to stop her sister but was too slow, again. So instead Jaune and Nora's mouths dropped open and Ren and Pyrrah perked an eye brow. Weiss exhaled and pinched the bridge of her nose, moving into their dorm.

"S-sister?" Jaune stammered.

"Yeah, uh long story," Winter chuckled nervously as she noticed her sister. "I gotta go so, see you around?"

"Sure." Jaune said dumbfounded as yet another snow angel left him stunned.

They all stepped into RWBY's dorm and shut the door behind them, all four of them breathing a sigh of relief and slumping on the beds.

"Well that was a…"

"A thing?" Ruby, Weiss and Blake filled in for Yang.

"Yeah." Yang said with a smile.

"Roof roof!"

"Zwei!" Ruby yelled.

The corgi ran up and jumped into her lap, tail wagging excitedly as Ruby ruffled his muzzle. After a few happy yaps at her chin he moved on to the heiress by her side. He jumped into her lap and ran a few circle before sitting on his rear end and smiling happily up at the girl.

"Hello Zwei! How are you?"

"Roof!"

Zwei rolled over onto his back and offered his belly to the girl, of course Weiss indulged him and rubbed his belly just the way he liked.

"So, showers anyone?" Yang asked.

"Dibs!" Ruby yelled quickly, shooting off the bed and moving toward the closet for her pyjamas.

"Of course." Weiss breathed with a small smile.

Blake watched as Zwei slowly made his way toward her, watching him carefully as he happily plodded toward her. He jumped up onto her bed and stood beside her lap, waiting patiently until something caught his attention.

He got to his feet and sniffed around at the bandage wrapped around her arm, nudging it gently with his nose and then giving a soft whimper as he looked up at the faunas with his head cocked to the side.

"It's fine Zwei." She reassured.

Zwei turned his head the other way and growled softly before blowing air out of his nose.

"Really it's nothing, just a scratch. Look." Blake began the process of unwrapping the bandage from her arm, all just to please a dog. She shook her head at the thought but continued on. When the ribbon was gone she showed her arm to the dog, taking a look herself.

All the cuts and wounds had already healed, only the deeper ones leaving a few scars behind. Zwei gave the arm a quizzical look and a sniff just for good measure before feeling satisfied and licking it for good luck.

"Roof!"

Blake's arm twitched as she felt the wet sensation run along her arm quickly but she managed not to make too much of a big deal.

Zwei moved over onto her lap and stared up at Yang, who looked down at him with a warm smile.

"Hey buddy!"

"Roof!"

Strangely that's all the blonde received as he barked at her and then jumped off Blake's lap and moved over to Winter.

Yang breathed in sharply in offense, "Oi! Rude!"

Zwei turned over to her and barked back before continuing on to Winter.

Yang stared at the corgi and Blake started laughing at her.

"How does that make you feel?"

Yang slowly turned to her partner and glared at her silently.

Blake suddenly felt a warmth growing stronger at her chest, she was confused at first but quickly recognised it as Yang's aura embedded with her own.

"Stop that!" Blake punched Yang gently in the shoulder.

"Don't be so mean then." Yang stated.

"Don't be such a baby." Blake retorted.

The two partners stared at each other in silence both smiling at each other.

"See I totally knew they were a thing." Winter whispered to Weiss as she played with Zwei in her lap.

Blake's cat ears twitched as she turned to the Schnee's.

"She heard didn't she?" Winter whispered again.

Weiss exhaled and shook her head with a hand to her forehead.

Blake was about to say something until Zwei revealed something to her in Winter's lap. The corgi suddenly stopped rolling around and got onto his feet, sniffing around at the girl's hands. A low whimper left his throat as she pushed the sleeve of her shirt up with his nose.

Blake inhaled sharply at what she saw and Winter quickly pushed her sleeve down and suddenly became very uneasy with looking at the two girls in front of her. Weiss looked between her sister and Blake and was a little unsure of what happened until she noticed her sister's hand grasping her sleeve.

Blake knew Winter had been hurt, but just how much she wasn't sure and what she just saw now was only a taste of it all. She had been tortured, probably by the worst sort of people in the White Fang. The young girl had been subject to such horrendous things because of what happened on that train, because of what Blake had done.

Suddenly Blake got to her feet and rushed out of the room, startling everyone besides Weiss.

"Blake! Blake where're you going?" Yang called after her, getting up and giving chase.

Leaving Weiss and Winter alone with Zwei and Ruby in the shower.

"You know, I really shouldn't stay here. I should go home." Winter said sheepishly.

"Don't be ridiculous! As if I would let you go back to that place and be with that fool of an excuse for a father!"

"Weiss-"

"Don't you dare try to justify his actions because nothing can justify that!"

Winter remained silent.

"You will stay with us for a few days and then we'll work something out. Agreed?"

"Fine." Winter relented.

The bathroom door swing open and Ruby stepped out, a waft of steam following behind her.

"Oooh that was a good shower!" She said, her hair clinging together as it was still wet. "Who's next? Hey where did Blake and Yang go?"

"They went for a walk." Weiss quickly explained.

Ruby eyed her partner suspiciously but decided to drop it.

"Well good, now no one has to wait for Yang."

"Winter go shower, I'll go in after." Weiss stated.

The heiress got up and found her sister a spare towel and a set of new clothes, hopefully they would fit her.

Winter reluctantly took the clothing and moved into the bathroom shutting the door behind her. Ruby continued to dry her hair with her towel and when she was done the shower started running again.

"Is she alright?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"I think so. I'm not too sure honestly."

"She seems ok, right?" Ruby continued.

"Don't forget Ruby, we Schnee's are good at hiding things like that."

"You're telling me?" Ruby said with a joking smile.

Ruby moved to sit next to her partner as she continued to watch the bathroom door.

"Weiss she'll be fine. She's a tough girl she'll bounce back." Ruby tried, gently rubbing Weiss hand.

"Ruby we don't even know what they did to her, they could have done anything." Weiss stated.

"Well even if she has trouble she had you," Ruby squeezed Weiss' shoulders gently. "And if that doesn't work she has me, and Blake and Yang. _And _then there's JNPR, I'm sure they'd love to get to know Weiss Schnee's _sister_." Ruby teased.

There was a short silence that followed after, only the splashing of water filling the air.

"Did you know Blake could sing?" Ruby asked.

Weiss blinked, "No I didn't actually."

"She was pretty good. Not as good as you though!" Ruby quickly added.

Weiss smiled, "Thank you Ruby."

"You two still have some things to work out don't you?" Ruby asked, a little saddened.

"I would be lying if I said no."

* * *

"Blake! Blake stop please!" Yang shouted after Blake.

They had run through the building and weren't exactly sure where they were. Blake finally came to a stop by one of the turns in the hallway, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. Yang quickly caught up and stood in front of her.

"Blake what happened?"

Blake slowly looked up at her partner.

"Did you see her arms?"

"What? Who's arms?"

"Winter's."

"No why?" Yang questioned, searching her partner for answers. She was getting dark feelings from Blake's aura and it was worrying her.

"It was all scared and cut." Blake explained.

"What do you mean?"

"She was tortured Yang!"

"Yeah I heard what those two bastards said."

"You don't understand!" Blake yelled back, but Yang was beginning to.

Yang looked her partner in the eye, her guilt stricken eyes.

"Blake, none of this is your fault." Yang grabbed her shoulders.

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't! Dammit Blake! All of this is because you keep blaming yourself, stop it! None of I happened because of you!"

"But on the train, when Weiss was about to-"

"You did the right thing Blake!"

"What?"

"You saved someone's life, it was the right thing."

"But it was Ada-"

"Bupupupup! It doesn't matter who it was, no one deserves to be killed. You did the right thing. Nothing after that was your fault, okay?"

Blake looked at Yang in silence, Winter's arm flashing through her mind.

"She's so young Yang and look what's happened to her. Weiss will never forgive me, I wouldn't forgive me."

"If she was smart she wouldn't need to because it wasn't your fault."

"You know she doesn't see it that way."

"I know but she will sometime. She really isn't that cold." Yang stated.

Blake perked an eyebrow at her words.

"Well I mean she can be quite cold, she did nearly freeze me to death even though that was an accident."

Blake winced at the memory.

"Look," Yang waved her arms in the air, "That's not important. Listen. Blaming yourself for something that's out of your control does more harm than good and trying to redeem yourself by giving yourself up, doesn't help either. Blake you're not alone anymore, okay? You have a family, you have us so what you do doesn't only affect you, it affects the ones that love you.

At the end of the day do you really think Weiss would be happy with you gone, even if she had Winter back? No, so please stop blaming yourself and sacrificing yourself."

Blake relented and nodded before Yang pulled her close and hugged her.

"At least now I'll know where you are all the time."

Blake hummed in confusion. Yang responded by flaring her aura, warming Blake's chest.

"You're gonna find ways to annoy me with this aren't you?" Blake said.

"Oh of course I am." Yang replied with a grin.

* * *

The water hurt. Every drop stung against her body. Every cut, bruise, burn and wound screamed at her as the water continued to fall onto her. When she reached out to check the temperature of the water she stifled a hiss as it stung immediately. Reluctantly she stepped into the shower and cringed, this time a hiss escaped her lips.

She leaned against the wall and balled her hands into fists as she tried to ignore the pain. After a few moments she thought she was ready to start washing herself. But as soon as the soap touched her skin she regretted it. Her hand flew to her mouth to block her scream and she dropped the sponge instantly.

Her body started shaking in fear of more pain to come. Winter kept her hand over her mouth as she stared at the sponge on the floor, tears blurred her vision and she was horrified when the water running down the drain turned red. Her breath hitched and she quickly moved away from the blood. But she slipped on the soap and fell over.

Her head bounced off the tiled wall and she landed on her rear painfully. Both her hands covered mouth as she blocked another round of screams, pain moving from her head, to her back and through her entire body.

Her hair clung to her body, sticking to the wounds on her back and shoulders. She remained on the floor, not wanting to move. Wanting to stay seated on the cold floor as her body stung with the rushing water. Winter looked over her legs and arms, holding her palms before her. She followed that one scar that started from her ankle and ran up all the way her leg, along the inside of her thigh and stopped just before the line of her undies.

Her body shuddered from the memory and she started crying. Her hands muffling her cries but nothing could muffle the images in her mind.

"Winter? Winter are you okay?"

Weiss voice reached through the bathroom door. Winter's head shot up at the sound.

"Winter?" Her voice was growing alarmed.

Winter didn't trust her voice to reamin strong but she had to say something.

"Yeah, I-I fine." Winter pushed off the floor to get up.

But her arms failed her and she fell back onto the ground, this time yelling out.

"Winter!"

She stayed on the ground, lying with her back to the door as it swung open and Weiss rushed in.

"Winter? Oh my god!" Weiss rushed toward the shower but paused at what she saw.

"Weiss is everything okay?" Ruby called.

Weiss froze as she stared at her sister back. Multiple slashes ran down her back, the light pink of the scar tissue a stark contrast to her usual pale skin. There were another set of scars just above her bottom, cuts from a blade.

"Weiss?"

Weiss' eyes reached the huge burn mark in between her shoulder blades and it wasn't until she noticed her sister was crying that she snapped out of her daze.

"We're fine Ruby, just give us a moment."

Weiss moved forward and stepped into the shower, ignoring the feeling of her clothes instantly becoming drenched. She knelt by her sister, who had now curled into a foetal position. The front of her body wasn't any better and Weiss had to force herself not to stare.

"Winter, Winter look at me please." Weiss said gently.

Winter slowly looked up at her sister.

"Can you stand?"

Winter nodded.

Weiss gently grabbed her arms and helped her to her feet, holding her steady as they got up.

"Do you want to get out of the shower?" Weiss asked.

Winter looked at her sister and shook her head shakily.

"Does it hurt?"

She nodded.

Weiss was going to ask why she wanted to stay in the shower but decided to ignore it.

"Your arm is bleeding."

"I know." Winter said softly, looking downward.

Weiss looked at her sister and she wasn't sure whether to let herself with anger or tenderness.

Fortunately she chose the latter.

"Winter what did they do to you?" She said softly.

Winter broke down and Weiss had to catch her. Weiss almost wanted to let go as she felt all the scars and bruises on her back. Winter continued to cry against Weiss' shoulder and there was nothing the heiress knew what to do besides hold her.

Eventually they turned the shower off and stepped out. Weiss took her drenched clothes of and threw them in the basket. She instructed Winter to sit in the bath as she sat behind her. Weiss gently cleaned away the dried blood and cleaned some of the wounds, using her aura to make it as gentle as possible.

Winter had stopped crying had reduced to sniffles and jerky breaths, each time something hurt she jerked forward away from her sister's touch. Weiss would pull back and patiently wait for her sister to sit back.

Winter turned around once Weiss was done with her back. Too many thoughts were rushing through Weiss' mind so she remained silent, keeping her jumbled thoughts to herself. Each new wound she found, every time Winter flinched, anger flashed through Weiss, heating every fibre of her body.

_'Monsters! All of them monsters! Those damn faunas, this isn't how it ends!'_

"Winter, do you want to, talk about it?"

Winter remained silent for some time as Weiss looked at her. After a few moments Weiss took it as a no and continued to work on her arms.

"I-" Weiss looked up at her sister. "I don't want to be afraid." Winter managed, looking her sister in the eye.

Weiss searched her sister's eyes, unsure of what that meant exactly.

"These scars aren't going away anytime soon, but I don't want to be afraid of them."

"That's very, brave of you." Weiss really didn't know what to say.

"Sometimes I can still hear their laughing, but I don't want to be afraid of them."

"They're monsters, horrible animals." Winter jerked her arm back as Weiss pressed a little too hard suddenly. "Sorry."

"Winter, scars serve to remind us of things, but what we do with those memories is up to us." Weiss remembered the scar along her eye and the one along her abdomen. "You're a strong girl I hope you know that and I'm here if you ever need me."

Winter sniffled once more and nodded.

"These scars aren't staying." Winter stated shaking her head. "I refuse to live with them."

Weiss didn't want to say anything to make her sister worse, but a sense of realism was still needed.

"Scars aren't easily removed."

"I'm a strong girl remember, I'll think of something." She said with a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Weiss smiled back but the smile faded when she spotted the huge scar that ran from her ankle up to her waist. Weiss' hand clenched into a fist and she gritted her teeth angrily.

"Weiss?"

"This isn't over, this fight isn't finished." Weiss said more to herself than to Winter.

"Weiss," Winter grabbed her hand gently. "We can't keep fighting."

"Winter the fight isn't finished."

* * *

**A/N: So, I don't really have anything to say lol, oh besides changing that one part from the other chapter, there'll be time for laughs later i suppose**


	21. Picking up the pieces

**A/N: Something a little more light hearted, perhaps there'll be more to come. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ruby why are you pacing in front of the bathroom?"

Ruby jumped as her sister expectantly entered the room with Blake by her side. They had walked back and returned to the dorm in time to see Ruby walking up and down the room in front of the bathroom door, she was looking a little worried and seemed to be biting her nails as well.

Ruby glanced over at the closed door and then back to her sister.

"Uh, no reason?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

Yang's mouth was open and ready to respond when the door in question opened.

"The shower is free." Weiss proclaimed, "And apparently just in time." She added after spotting Blake and Yang.

Ruby turned to her partner, her eyes shooting a billion and one questions toward the heiress.

"We're fine Ruby." She said softly to the red head before moving to hang the towel up.

Yang looked between her sister and the heiress, trying to make sense of what was going on in their room. Blake remained silent by her side, not really bothered by what was happening.

"Well in that case, shower for me." Yang stated walking toward the bathroom.

She got to the door and was about to walk in when someone else walked _out. _

"Weiss I know this was all you had but not all the clothes you gave me fit." Winter stated, casually walking past a very confused Yang. At least now Blake perked an eyebrow.

Weiss hummed in response, "And what might that be?"

"This." Winter held up the piece of clothing in question.

Weiss was slow to look over at her sister but when she heard Yang burst into laughter she had an idea what it might be.

"Winter!" Weiss dived at her sister, snatching the bra out of Winter's hand and hiding it with her own body.

"What?" Winter asked innocently, looking from her flustered, yet angry sister, to the laughing blonde and then to Ruby and Blake.

"What do you think you're doing waving my underwear around like that and saying those things!" Weiss hissed.

Winter's eyes widened in realisation and couldn't help the smile that grew on her lips as Yang continued to laugh.

"Weiss are you feeling alright? You look a bit flushed." Yang teased, not even making an attempt to stop her laughing.

Weiss turned and glared at the blonde, but the shade of red occupying her cheeks just intensified and made the blonde laugh even more.

"I don't know why you even gave me one, I never sleep with one. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever worn a night gown either." Winter continued.

"Do tell, what _do _you wear?" Weiss said sarcastically, although Winter still answered.

"Shorts and a top."

"Like me!" Yang stated, throwing Winter a smile.

"Great." Weiss mumbled with a roll of her eyes.

The heiress moved to her draw and shoved her bra back into the draw with enough force to shake the entire set. She moved back toward her bed grabbing a comb on her way, she sat down with a humph and silently began combing her hair, although the glare never left her face.

Ruby joined her side and shot her a huge, bright smile.

"Weiss you know I love you the way you are."

Ruby knew fully well how Weiss would react and what would ensue because of it. Weiss' blush returned merciless to her cheeks and she turned her head away from her partner in attempt to hide it. Of course it was a failed attempt and not to mention the fact that Yang witnessed it all.

Of course the blonde burst into laughter again and even Winter couldn't help herself. Unfortunately even Ruby didn't spare her, snickering in that cheeky way she does, that laugh that went through her nose and sounded more like a snort.

"Well anyway, I need to shower so imam just- Woah hey." Yang turned to the bathroom but found the door closed, she swore it was open.

"You snooze you lose!" Blake called from the shower, her smile could be heard behind those words.

Yang blinked at the closed door, turned to Winter and pointed to the piece of wood blocking her path to the shower.

"When did she…"

"Maybe if you didn't laugh so loud, or even so much, you may have noticed!" Blake answered just as the water started running.

Yang's confused look turned into a glare as she frowned at the door, with a groan she finally turned away from the bathroom and moved to sit down. After a short silence Winter spoke.

"Nice beds." She stated, gently pushing on Ruby's bunk causing it to swing a little and her eyes to widen. "I mean if you liked to live on the edge." She added.

"Oh trust me, these two pretty much _sleep _on the edge, literally." Weiss stated. "It's a wonder how they don't fall off every night."

"If you're so worried I could always sleep next to you every night." Ruby offered with a smile.

"Please, your snoring is enough as it is." Weiss countered.

"Don't talk to my sis like that!" Yang interrupted.

"Like you can talk, I feel sorry for JNPR let alone Blake, and she has an extra set of ears!" Weiss stated, waving toward the bathroom.

"Sounds like you lot have delightful naps at night." Winter stated with a grin.

"The feeling is _not, _mutual." Weiss answered.

"This brings up a good point," Ruby stated, "Where will Winter sleep?"

"On your bed." Weiss quickly answered.

"Where will Ruby sleep?" Yang asked.

"Yeah where will I sleep?" Ruby repeated a huge grin pulling at her face as already knew the answer.

"I guess you'll just have to stay with me for the next few nights." Weiss quickly answered, forcing herself to ignore Yang's raised eyebrow.

"But how will you sleep with all my snoring hmm?" Ruby teased.

"You could always sleep with Yang." Weiss suggested with an evil little grin.

"What!? I'll never get to sleep then!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Hey!" Yang yelled.

Winter laughed at the exchange, enjoying the relay of insults and threats quite nicely.

"Winter I have some spare shorts and a top if you want to change." Yang offered.

"Sure!"

A few moments later and it was Weiss' turn to laugh at her sister and for Winter to glare at hers.

"It really isn't that funny." Winter dead-panned.

"Oh please, it is quite funny."

Winter looked over at Yang and was a little disappointed that the blonde was sporting her own smile, albeit she did look a little guilty.

"I'm sorry Winter but you have to admit, you may have misjudged our size difference." Yang stated.

Winter moved toward a mirror, ignoring her sisters laughs that seemed to follow her.

The shorts fit fine, nice and snug and comfortable. What everyone was laughing at was the top.

Where Weiss' body lacked a certain, roundness, Winter had faired a little better. But in the same area Yang was one of those, what some may call, lucky women, who fared better than most other women. So the shirt Winter was wearing was meant to hold something she didn't quite have so it resorted to hanging loosely against her body.

It really didn't look that bad, just another baggy shirt, but the reason why it was baggy was enough for Weiss to get back at her sister.

"I don't see why you are laughing, I'd like to see what you'd look like in this." Winter challenged her sister.

"I'm not stupid enough to put it on, that's why I'm laughing. Besides, I couldn't give a hoot about what size shirt Yang has to wear." Weiss stated proudly, although the grin remained stuck to her face.

"Why is Winter wearing one of Yang's shirts?" Blake asked as she exited the bathroom rubbing her hair with her towel. "Wasn't it obvious it wouldn't fit?"

Weiss burst into another fit of giggles, "Clearly it wasn't."

"Well if you're all done talking about my boobs and your boobs and her boobs, I'm going to shower."

"Don't take for ever! I don't want to have to deal with more complaints from maintenance!" Ruby called after her sister.

"Yeah, yeah." Yang waved as she closed the door.

"Tea anyone?" Blake offered, stopping by the kitchen. "Weiss would you like a coffee?"

Weiss remained silent for a short moment, looking at her sister and not Blake until the silence drew out for too long and Blake noticed something was up, although she had an idea what it was.

"If you don't mind." Weiss replied after Ruby elbowed her in the ribs.

"Can I have one too Blake?" Ruby called out.

"Sure!"

"I'll help." Winter announced.

In the kitchen Blake perked an eyebrow at the announcement, it really wasn't hard to make two coffees and a tea, even if one of those coffees had an excessive amount of sugar in it.

* * *

"What are you doing!" Ruby hissed. "Don't be so mean!"

"I wasn't being mean." Weiss replied coolly.

"You were totally being mean. You think she doesn't know how you feel about all this? There's no need to make it worse."

"I will forgive Blake when Winter forgives her." Weiss stated.

Ruby eyed her partner, besides being frustrated with the heiress she was also suspicious of her.

"Weiss what happened in the bathroom?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Weiss replied through notably gritted teeth, the scars flashing through her mind.

"If it's affecting my _team_, I think I should." Ruby pressed, she _was _team leader.

"Just because I act like a friend most of the time doesn't mean I'm not team leader." She added.

"You can't keep using that defence Ruby." Weiss replied.

"I can and I will. If there's something going on that's going to tear us apart I want to know about it and of course I want it stopped."

"Nothing is going to tear us apart Ruby, if Winter can find it in herself to forgive her, then I suppose so can I." Weiss stated.

The way she said it, the wording made Ruby feel as if she was missing an important detail, perhaps something else had happened to Winter?

"What happened to Winter, Weiss? What happened in the bathroom?"

* * *

"If you feel like you need to apologise, even though you really don't have to, I forgive you."

There was a loud clatter followed by the sound of glass breaking against the ground as Blake suddenly forgot how to hold things and dropped the cup in her hand. Winter winced as the cup exploded and clattered along the ground.

"Blake, Winter? Everything okay in there?" Ruby called.

"Yeah I slipped, sorry." Winter replied, Blake didn't look like she could make words at the moment. Thankfully Ruby didn't come to see for herself what had happened.

Winter winced as she bent down to clean up the shattered remains of the cup, she got halfway through when Blake blinked and came to her senses, at least most of them.

"W-What do you mean?" Blake asked as she bent down to help.

Winter waited until they had cleaned it all up and were standing by the sink.

"The way you ran out of the room was quiet an indication to what may have been going through your mind. Also how you came to get trade yourself in for me, on your own might I add, wasn't exactly something I'd expect a smart girl like you to do." Winter explained.

Blake took it all in but still found it hard to comprehend.

"Are you sure? I mean you can't just forgive me."

"Why not? I just did." Winter replied simply, perhaps it was too soon for the faunas.

"B-but all the things that happened to you, all of it. Those men, the pain, it was all because of m-"

"Some group of very sick people." Winter cut in. "Blake I don't blame you for any of this, it really wasn't your fault. So what you saved the life of someone you loved, but if you hadn't he may have killed me then and there, there was no guarantee Weiss would have got to him."

Blake's mouth moved but no words left her lips. This was all too sudden, too easy. She couldn't just forgive her like that, she didn't deserve forgiveness this easily.

"N-no. I can't accept." Blake managed.

"What?" Now Winter was surprised.

"I can't, accept your forgiveness this easily. It's not fair."

"Not fair? What does that even mean? Blake it wasn't even your fault! You shouldn't even be apologising! Blake I understood what you were trying to do, but one person can't save everyone alone, which is what this family is for." Winter gestured to the dorm in general.

"But you did a pretty good job, I mean me _and _Adam are still breathing and so is everyone else. I know that my sister may not be treating you in the best way possible and I don't agree with that, but where she find it hard to move on, to forgive and forget, that's usually where I step in." Winter offered Blake a smile.

"I find it's easier to live in this world by putting the past in the past. I would hate to live a life carrying a grudge around with me all my life, things like revenge and redemption, they drive people made and drag them down because sometimes they never let go of the past. But I always found it easy, everything that's happened to me, what those men did to me, I refuse to let them haunt me because they live in my past and I live in the present and look to the future."

"So please Blake, I forgive you."

That was, a lot to take in, especially coming from a sixteen year old girl. What could Blake say? What she wanted was in front of her, all she had to do was take it and she would be ridden of the guilt that was weighing her down.

"Thank you Winter. Thank you so much." Blake finally said softly.

Winter's smile beamed across her face and Blake suddenly found herself in the arms of the Schnee girl. Winter pulled Blake into a tight hug, the Schnee may feel just as small and fragile as Weiss, but she undoubtedly warmer. Blake felt a smile tug at the edges of her lips and she let it grow returning the hug before Winter pulled back.

"We should make these coffee's before they get suspicious." She stated.

"Good idea." Blake mumbled.

"Oh and about Adam," Winter said suddenly.

Blake immediately put the cup she was holding onto the bench before she dropped it again.

"There were two occasion where he was going to kill me, yet both of those times he didn't. The first was because of you and I have a feeling the second was too, so besides saying thank you for that, I think you can still bring him back."

* * *

It wasn't until they brought the drinks out that Ruby and Weiss realised they had taken far too long to make four warm drinks, but they had been caught up in their own conversation they lost track of time. Weiss relented and told Ruby what had happened in the bathroom and to her sister and as Blake and Winter walked up to them Ruby couldn't help but eye them both.

"What is it?" Blake asked, not much got past her.

"N-nothing!" Ruby quickly lifted her cup to her lips and drank from it.

Both Blake and Winter's eyes widened as the red head poured the scolding hot liquid into her mouth, which was soon spewed back out and tipped over her clothes and Weiss' bed.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.

"Sorry!" The red head managed between her coughing and splattering.

"Even for Ruby that was a bit stupid right?" Winter asked Blake, to which Blake nodded quietly.

"Now I have to change the sheets!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Who cares about your sheets!" Ruby argued.

"You should! You'll be sleeping in them too!"

"I missed that part of the conversation did I?" Blake asked Winter, sipping at her tea. Winter returned the favour and nodded quietly.

Zwei barked as he sniffed at the liquid soaked up into the carpet, the extremely sweet scent causing him to paw at his nose and back away toward Blake and Winter.

Yang stepped out of the shower just as Ruby and Weiss were removing the wet sheets and were arguing with each other through the whole process.

"Who wet the bed?" She asked the two remaining people in the room, both of which wordlessly pointed to Ruby.

Yang moved over to sit by Blake and Winter, dropping her weight onto the bed without hesitation. Blake was used to the blondes antiques expertly moved with the motion of the bed so as to not spill her tea anywhere. Winter however had no experience with the brawler what so ever and it was a miracle she didn't spill onto Blake's bed.

"So, wanna tell me what got you so giddy?" Yang asked Blake softly.

Blake shot her a look, honestly confused. "What?"

"Well I was in the shower and then suddenly you felt a lot more happier." Yang explained.

"How do you-"

Yang tapped her chest and Blake remembered what they had done to save her.

"Oh that. I can't turn that off can I?" Blake teased.

"Aww c'mon, after everything I went through to put it there." Yang replied with a smile.

"Winter thought it was a good idea to forgive me, for everything." Blake explained.

"Oh?" Yang perked an eyebrow as she looked over at the Schnee who was busy playing with Zwei and balancing her coffee.

Blake nodded as she sipped her tea. "Now there's just Weiss." She stated.


	22. Checkmate

**A/N: The next chapter is in the works, I just need to figure some stuff out so it shouldn't take too long. Enjoy!**

* * *

What a wonderful night. Ruby had the most comfortable sleep she's had in a long time. In fact all of them did, even Blake felt like sleep came much easier to her. Besides being tired physically and emotionally, Blake found that her thoughts had settled down and she was able to slip away into sweet, uninterrupted sleep. Even her dreams and nightmares decided to leave her.

But Ruby felt as if her night was the best out of all of them, because she didn't have to sleep by herself, she slept with the lovely, yet somewhat bitter, Weiss Schnee. Of course Ruby understood that her, not-so-welcoming attitude, was probably because she was just embarrassed. It wasn't the first time they shared a bed, but it was the first time Weiss had actively invited her, the first time was after Ruby had a horrible nightmare and had essentially barged in to her bed.

Even then, Weiss was prone to embarrassment especially with Blake and Yang in the room and her sister.

So when Weiss walked out of the bathroom after washing up and walked toward her bed to find Ruby waiting for her with a huge grin on her face, the heiress was powerless to stop her cheeks from heating up and growing pink. It wasn't a big deal, Yang made sure she knew it, they _were _just sharing a bed, but Weiss had never shared a bed before, ever.

When children would ran from their rooms in the middle of the night after a bad dream into their parents room and under the protection of their covers, Weiss found that the journey down the dark empty halls toward the massive double doors were a waste of time, sent back to her room to face her nightmares and by herself, told to grow up and to stop crying over stupid things. Winter didn't seem to have nightmares and if she did she never went running to her or her parents, so Weiss had spent her whole life sleeping in her bed alone.

But there Ruby was, waiting for her with that stupid grin plastered across her face. Weiss crawled in next to the red head and tried to settle in as best as possible, moving toward the wall and laying on her back as she stared at the underside of Ruby's bed.

"Weiss just relax, you're never going to fall asleep like that." Ruby said softly, looking over Weiss' rigid posture.

"Don't be ridiculous, I always sleep like this."

"No you don't, I've seen how you sleep." Ruby stated.

"You watch me when I sleep?"

"What?! No!" Ruby quickly shut down the accusation. "I just see you when I got to the bathroom and stuff."

Weiss turned her head to face Ruby, who was now averting her gaze and shifting uncomfortably.

"Anyway that doesn't matter," Ruby continued turning to face her partner. "You need to relax a little. I'm going to sleep."

Ruby turned over onto her side, facing Weiss, shuffled her head a bit on the pillow until she found a comfortable position and peacefully shut her eyes and waited for sleep to come and take her.

Weiss looked at her partner whose head was just by her side, eyes closed and uncharacteristically still. Weiss honestly half expected Ruby to throw her arm over her and hug her like some sort of teddy, but surprisingly she didn't.

"What?" Ruby asked, one eye open and looking at the heiress.

"N-nothing." Weiss turned her head back around, "It's nothing."

"Weiss just sleep." Ruby said with a yawn.

Weiss was about to respond but the red head had shut her eyes again, so not bothering her any further Weiss turned over herself and tried to fall asleep. When Weiss had felt as though Ruby had fallen asleep she was still awake, facing the blank wall in front of her. She sighed and cursed herself for what she was about to do next.

Giving in to herself she rolled over the other way to face Ruby, settling down in her new position and laying her head close to Ruby's. A breath of contempt left her nose as she suddenly felt a lot more comfortable. She felt Ruby's hand under the pillow and gently placed her own fingers near Ruby's and as she finally closed her eyes to let sleep take her away, Ruby shuffled forward with a smile and took Weiss' hand in her own.

When they did wake up Ruby was of course the first to do so and immediately realised how well she slept. There was something odd about it, it was as if she felt whole sleeping next to Weiss. Ruby took a moment to ponder over the thought before coming to terms with her surroundings.

She had to admit it was odd waking up so close to the floor and not so close to the roof as she usually did. She could see Blake across from her, probably awake but feigning sleep and Yang's arm was just visible hanging over the side of her bed, her sheets somehow made it off the end of her bed and were in a heap on the floor.

Ruby felt a smile tug at her lips at the display and couldn't help but remember Weiss' words from the night before. After shuffling a little in her bed she finally became aware of a certain weight around her body, frowning she looked down to find an arm draped over her. Ruby strained her neck around to look behind her, finding Weiss to have moved in her sleep and, whether consciously or not, had lifted her arm over Ruby to hold her in her sleep.

Ruby's smile returned as she felt Weiss' faint breath against the back of her neck, but alas it couldn't last forever.

Ruby's smile never left her lips as she searched the pockets of her pyjama pants and pulled out a small metallic object. She looked at the tiny object and a huge, cheeky, grin grew along her face and her eyes gleamed as she slowly brought the whistle to her lips.

"I swear if that thing touches your lips mine will never come anywhere near yours again."

Ruby's hand froze a few inches from her face, apparently Weiss was awake.

"Hehe, I don't know what you're talking about Weiss!" Ruby quickly covered the whistle with her hands and shoved it back into her pocket.

"I'm sure you don't." Weiss dead panned.

Ruby chuckled nervously and her gaze wondered over to the other side of the room, stopping as it met Blake's eyes. Those two amber orbs were narrowed as the faunas glared at her leader, making the red head a little nervous. Weiss wasn't the only one who hated the whistle, especially when that other person had four ears and not two.

When Blake was satisfied that her silent message had been received her expression returned to it's normal, soft, placid state and she got out of bed. The faunas had to duck under Yang's arm where it hung over the blonde's bed, Blake didn't even bother cheeking for the brawlers sheets and just immediately started searching for them on the floor.

It seemed she already knew where they were. She picked them up and strolled over to Yang's side, her bare feet somehow remaining silent as she moved. She paused for a moment, staring at her partner as the brawler snorted and drooled into her pillow. Ruby frowned as she tried to understand what Blake was doing before the faunas moved suddenly.

Blake brought Yang's sheets around and slammed them on top of the blonde in question, startling the brawler and causing her to shoot awake in a confused and blinded mess.

"Wah!" Yang shot up with her sheets over her head and body. She flailed around helplessly and Blake calmly stepped to the side just as Yang fell from her bed to the floor.

"Ow."

"Next time your sheets fall through the gap between the wall and your bed and end up falling on me, I'm throwing them out the window." Blake explained calmly, walking toward the bathroom as Yang continued to struggle out of her sheets.

Yang finally sat up with herself successfully freed of the fabric prison, sitting up with a huff and her hair in a mess. She turned to Blake just as she entered the bathroom, a low groan rumbling through her throat. Ruby and Weiss had sat up in bed and now Yang turned to the pair.

"So," She started.

"Oh great." Weiss breathed, falling back onto her bed.

"How was last night?" Yang asked with a grin.

"Yang don't be annoying." Ruby said standing up and moving toward the kitchen.

"Annoying? Me? Pff, never!" Yang continued, "Plus I just want to know how we all slept last night."

"We slept _fine _Yang." Ruby answered, pouring coffee into two cups.

"No whistle this morning?" Yang asked.

"No!" Both Weiss and Blake yelled, Blake's voice echoing through the bathroom door.

"Woah alright then." Yang returned her sheets back to her bed.

Ruby returned to Weiss with a cup of coffee for which the heiress was silently very grateful for. Ruby handed her partner the beverage and sat by her side just as Winter jumped down from her bed.

"Goooood morning!" She sang, looking between the three present women.

"Good morning." They replied, some more enthusiastic than others.

"How did we all sleep?"

"Fine!" Weiss snapped.

Ruby jumped a little and Winter took a small step back, all of them heard Yang snickering in the background.

"Sorry I asked." Winter mumbled as she watched her sister furiously sip at her coffee.

Zwei quietly plodded up to the bathroom door just as Blake stepped out. Zwei greeted her with a small bark but Blake jumped a little as she didn't see his tiny figure in front of her.

"Good morning to you too." Blake dead panned, leaving Zwei to follow on happily.

"Good morning girls." Kage greeted with a grin.

"AAH!"

"Jeez!"

All five girls jumped in unison as the shady figure suddenly appeared at their window, albeit with a smile on his face.

"Why do boys keep doing that?" Ruby muttered.

"Perhaps I should freeze the ledge beneath it so they slip and fall." Weiss suggested, shooting Kage a fierce look.

"Can we help you?" Yang asked.

"Mmm, not really." Kage hummed.

"So what are you doing?"

"Well I was hoping, since this all seems to be over, I could take Blake to my leader."

Kage noticed the slight change in expression from Weiss and Blake as he stated that 'this was all over'. He took note of the change and the possible meaning behind it but kept it to himself.

"What? To Vacuo?" Yang questioned.

"It really isn't that far."

"We still have classes, she can't just leave school." Yang stated.

Kage simply raised an eyebrow at the blonde and even Weiss and Blake thought that was a dumb excuse.

"C'mon when has school ever stopped you before?"

"Does she need to go now?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not going." Blake stated. Kage turned to the faunas. "At least not right now." She added.

Kage nodded quietly, "Well if that's the case, I'll be waiting." And with that he jumped out the window and left.

"Woah wait hold on!" But Yang was too late. "What the hell was that about?"

Suddenly Blake felt four pairs of eyes on her.

"Not right now?" Yang asked. "What does that mean?"

"Maybe she has something to take care of first?" Weiss suggested, looking at the faunas.

Blake made eye contact with her oppositely coloured teammate, but didn't press against her.

"It means I don't want to go now. We just all got back, I don't want to leave so soon." Blake explained.

She squeezed the twang of guilt she felt when those false words left her mouth.

"Guys." Ruby's voice cut them off. "Yang mentioned classes, we have sparring with Goodwitch in ten minutes."

Without another word all four members of team RWBY exploded into action. The bathroom door slammed shut as someone ran into it. Beds were made lightning fast, pyjamas were thrown off and their combat uniforms were hastily put on.

"Two years and we're still late to class!" Weiss complained, pulling her boot on.

"Well I'm sorry Kage decided to show up just now." Ruby retorted.

"You could have woken up earlier!"

"Well maybe if you weren't so cuddly I would have!"

Everyone paused and stared over at the White Rose pair, both of whom went a shade of red akin to Ruby's cloak. Weiss blinked with her foot lifted off the ground, frozen in the middle of the act of putting her other boot on. It seemed they were all waiting for response, even Zwei watched on expectantly.

"Well don't just stand around! Let's hurry." Weiss commanded, breaking the silence as the blush grew.

Blake and Yang shared a glance before rushing back to getting dressed.

"Winter get dressed too, you may as well come and watch." Weiss stated, throwing the girl her clothes.

"Watch!?" She repeated excitedly.

"Yes watch, now hurry up."

A soft thud filled the room and they turned to find Yang on the floor wrestling with her knee high boots.

"You had to pick the most difficult outfit to put on now?!" Blake scolded.

"Hey you can't rush good looks." Yang argued.

"Don't be stupid you look good all the time." Blake muttered loud enough for Yang to hear.

Yang stopped her struggle long enough to look at her partner and smile broadly, feeling the gentle tingle from Blake's aura.

A few moments later RWBY- plus-Winter came bursting out of their room and bolted down the hall. Team JNPR didn't seem to be faring better in their second year and were just behind them as they ran down toward the auditorium.

"Oh hey guys!" Winter greeted happily. "Late too?"

"Nora shut all our alarms off again." Ren explained.

"I was tired!" She complained.

"You know that Goodwitch hates late students." Ren continued, seemingly already exhausted.

"She's just old." Nora mumbled.

Winter laughed at the exchange between the pair, noticing that everyone else present seemed to be smiling as well.

"What about you guys?" Jaune asked.

"Oh us? I think Ruby didn't get to use her whistle." Winter explained.

"Oh that usually wakes us up too." Pyrrah explained with a warm smile.

Winter laughed as she shook her head in amazement. She wouldn't mind spending four years with these guys, her sister sure was lucky, even if she didn't know it.

"If Goodwitch holds us back again I'm blaming you Ruby!" Weiss stated, her boots clicking loudly against the ground as she ran.

"You know what," Ruby stated sounded a little fed up.

Weiss suddenly found herself no longer running along the ground but held in the air.

"Ruby what are you doing?! Put me down!" Weiss yelled as Ruby picked her up.

"You don't want to be late to class, so you won't be."

"I don't see how we could possibly- AAAAAAH! RUUUUBYYYYY!"

A cloud of rose petals rushed past the two teams as the leader of RWBY shot down the way with the heiress in her arms ahead of them, the heiress' scream fading into the distance and into the building of the school before them.

"Did my sister just abandon us?" Yang asked no one in particular.

"No fair, we don't all have super speed." Nora winged.

"If Weiss really wanted to she could have just used her glyphs." Blake stated.

"Yeah but that _was_ much funnier." Yang admitted, Blake nodding in agreement.

"Where's this classroom?" Winter asked Jaune.

"Oh it's just in that building and straight to the right." He explained.

Winter nodded and suddenly seemed as if she was readying herself to do something.

After a moment Jaune turned back to Winter, "Uh why, exactly?"

"Weiss isn't the only who can make glyphs."

Just as Winter said it she took a deep breath and suddenly all seven of them were somehow shooting toward the building with incredible speed.

"WOOOOOOOAH!"

Other students watched in confusion as half of team RWBY and all of team JNPR glided across the courtyard with frightening speed.

They entered the building and came to a sudden halt. Panting lightly, Winter turned her head to the right, finding Ruby and Weiss just in front of what must have been the class room.

"What just happened?" Yang asked, looking at her feet.

"I think Winter-"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

In another instant they found themselves at the door of Goodwitch's class. They stumbled forward and Jaune nearly fell over if Pyrrah hadn't caught him. Ruby and Weiss who had just entered turned around and were surprised to find the rest of their friends at the door, just before class started.

"How did you…" Ruby began as Winter stumbled out in front of them all.

"Making that many glyphs was really hard but," Winter took a breath, "it was worth it." She finished, Ruby and Weiss blinking at her.

"If we are all ready to begin could we all please sit down." Goodwitch entered the class, frowning at the group of dazed and confused students.

Some of the other students were murmuring amongst themselves. First Ruby and Weiss suddenly appear at the door, Weiss clinging to Ruby for dear life, shortly followed by the heiress re-entering character and berating the red head. Then the rest of RWBY _and _JNPR as well as some new girl who looked a bit like Weiss, definitely a strange start to the day.

"Do we have a new student with us?" Goodwitch called, raising an eye brow at Winter.

"Uh, hehe well-"

"She's an exchange student." Weiss cut in. "She's my cousin, from Mystral." She lied.

Goodwitch eyed Weiss carefully. "Very well. Welcome Miss?"

"Winter." Winter filled in.

Goodwitch nodded politely and returned her attention to the class.

"Shall we get started? Another regular class, it's always good to test each other's abilities against each other. Especially against your own teammates, it only helps to get to know them better which will benefit you all in the field. Personally I find a little competition in a relationship is always good." She paused, tapping a few keys on her tablet.

"Any questions?"

"We're fighting our teammates?" Someone called.

"Right you are Mr Lee and our first pair is…" Goodwitch hit enter and waited for her tablet to spit out a match up.

The results appeared against the two pillars at the front of the classroom, holographically projected against the old stone. A round of 'oohs' rushed through the room, any good match up got the student pumped and excited, especially when it involved Weiss Schnee, almost any fight with her was worth watching. Come to think of it most of them would agree any fight with any of the girls from team RWBY were worth watching, so when two of them fought against each other, they knew they were in for a show.

"Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna, if you will."


	23. The fight is not over-part 1

**A/N: turns out that, 'stuff' i had to work out meant cutting said 'stuff' out in favor of a much more darker, angsty approach. Hope you enjoy it when it shows up ;)**

* * *

Both the heiress' and the faunas' eyes widened as they were both called up. They turned to each other before Goodwitch ushered them on.

"C'mon girls we don't have all day." It was sill to say since they technically did have all day.

Weiss was the first to react, getting up and making her way toward the stage without looking back at any of them. Ruby and Winter watched her go nervously as Blake made her own way down. They were all aware of the tension between the two, what they weren't sure of was just how much tensions Weiss felt and whether it would spill out during the fight.

Blake tried to get a read from Weiss as they turned to each other on the stage, but all she was getting was that same look she had been giving her this whole time. Blake glanced back up at her team and they all seemed a little concerned, whether there was reason to be, Blake wasn't sure yet.

"Ready?" Goodwitch asked.

"Ready." Weiss replied, pulling Myrtenaster free.

"Ready." Blake finally replied.

Goodwitch stepped back as the barrier activated and the countdown began.

5

Blake removed Gamboul Shroud from her back and took her stance.

4

Weiss straightened up and tipped the point of her blade toward Blake.

3

The heiress wasn't sure how she looked staring at Blake, but she was anything but happy and as long as Blake understood that it was fine.

2

Winter had somehow found in herself to forgive her already, without even asking she forgave Blake. But Blake knew Weiss still hated looking at her, at least that's what it felt like. Blake had no idea how to apologise to the heiress.

1

Weiss had to constantly remind herself that Blake was still her teammate and her friend, it was just that it was hard for to get past all these events. Everything that's happened to Winter, all of it was somehow tied to the faunas standing in front of her. Maybe she should just put it in the past like Winter always tells her.

0

The instant the buzzer sounded Blake found the heiress' blade already rushing across her own. Surprised by the sudden aggressiveness Blake took a step back to regain her composure. Weiss continued to press on, executed four more precise and powerful attack at Blake's front before using a glyph to move her behind Blake.

Blake managed to block every attack and when there was a break in the volley she knew the heiress would try to get around her so a clone had her moving forward away from Weiss. Weiss spun around, a little frustrated that Blake saw through her tact that easily, then again Blake was good at reading her opponent.

Blake rolled to the side as Weiss rushed her again, coming to halt when she knew she missed the faunas and then quickly altering her course. Blake rose to her feet in time to bring her blade up and block Weiss' attack. Weiss' blade was forced upward as Gamboul Shroud pushed it up, bringing the heiress to a halt a few inches from Blake's face with her blade pointed upward.

Blake blinked and then Weiss was leaped away from her. Something told Blake to look down and when she did a glyph placed by her feet ignited in a plume of fire. Blake must have missed it when Weiss summoned it, that or the Schnee was getting faster at summoning them.

Blake was thrown backwards off her feet, landing on her rear but flipping backwards onto her feet. She rose up and looked at Weiss, the look in those azure eyes disappointed the faunas more than anything, she had hoped it wasn't this bad.

Up in the stands a discussion had washed over the students. They were trying to find out why the heiress was acting so aggressive.

"She isn't usually this aggressive is she?"

"Maybe she's trying something new?"

"Or maybe those two had a fight."

"Ruby and Yang don't look too happy either." One of them whispered.

It was true, both sisters were becoming increasingly worried about their respective partners, Ruby perhaps worried for both of her teammates. Needless to say they were worried.

Weiss glanced up at the stands and found Ruby and Winter's gaze directed at her and neither of them seemed happy, in fact both of them looked as if they were watching her in a real fight. This wasn't a real fight this was just-

"Oof!"

Blake took advantage of Weiss' distraction and rushed the heiress, spinning as she neared Weiss and running her blade twice against her. Weiss stumbled backward and Myrtenaster was quick enough to parry another volley of attacks.

Blake summoned a clone just as Weiss managed a counter, her rapier passing through a simple projection as Blake slid backward safely, throwing her scythe toward the heiress. Weiss saw the object coming and swiftly stepped to the side, dodging the weapon easily. She heard the pistol fire and when she turned back to Blake she found the faunas already rushing toward her again.

Gamboul Shroud had come back around and Blake expertly whipped it around to pass behind Weiss and come back around to wrap around the girl's small build. Weiss struggled against the ribbon which had just wrapped around her but Blake quickly pulled on the ribbon and had Weiss spinning toward her.

When Weiss drew close to her, Blake had her cleaver ready to slash at the heiress, but her scythe came free from the Schnee's body and Weiss was able to deftly backflip just as Blake's blade passed right over her. Weiss landed in a crouch and in an instant had already launched herself toward Blake. Blake quickly turned to the side and Weiss passed by her harmlessly, but the heiress skidded to a halt and as she turned back around a glyph appeared before her and fired at Blake.

Blake's eyes widened as a barrage of icicles rushed toward her, bellowing out of the glyph. Each projectile exploded against Gamboul Shrouds blades, both the katana and the cleaver making quick work of the ice. As Blake was busy protecting herself from the ice, Weiss leapt up into the air above the glyph and at the apex of her jump a glyph appeared at her feet and had her pointed straight at Blake on the ground.

Blake looked up just as Weiss shot toward her, she moved to block the incoming attack but only opened herself up to the icicles speeding toward her. Three of them slammed into her body before Weiss did, Myrtenasters point painfully contacting her body and causing her to yell out in pain.

Blake's aura gauge dropped into the yellow and Blake herself dropped to her knees after bouncing off the protection barrier.

Ruby, Yang and Winter cringed as Blake's back hit the barrier and she bounced off onto her knees. Blake really shouldn't have taken that hit, they all knew it, but she had and it didn't calm their nerves at all.

"C'mon Blake I know you've got more." Weiss spoke, flicking her rapier to the side.

"I'm sure you do to." Blake replied coolly, getting to her feet.

Weiss smiled briefly before rushing straight toward her another time, this time Blake remained still and Weiss should have known it was too good to be true because just when her rapier was meant to meet Blake's aura, it met yet another clone which suddenly froze up and captured her rapier within itself.

Blake flipped backward, her boot contacting Weiss chin and staggering her away. A clone pushed Blake forward and she lashed out with her foot, her heel contacting Weiss stomach and sending her backwards, without her weapon. Blake rushed toward her now defenceless opponent, but she wasn't so defenceless in reality.

Weiss gracefully waved her hand before her and Blake ran straight into a glyph that immediately shot her backwards, back into the barrier. Weiss rushed toward her weapon and when she grabbed its hilt the ice around it exploded as fire burst from the dust canister. Weiss quickly summoned another glyph and was gliding toward Blake again, Blake quickly spun away and Myrtenaster slammed into the barrier where she had been moments ago.

Weiss quickly followed the faunas and a bolt of electricity shot from her rapier toward Blake. A clone took her place and solidified into some sort of dust rock, which was obliterated by the bolt of electricity.

Blake moved toward Weiss and Weiss readied herself, Blake reached her and quickly lashed out with her katana, sparks flying as it ran along Myrtenaster, another two attacks and more sparks until Blake spun around and suddenly dropped to her knees, a clone pushing her along the floor to slide past Weiss where she quickly got to her feet and another clone had her spinning back towards Weiss' back.

Weiss felt the sting of two slashed against her back and immediately spun around and leaped backwards. When her feet touched the ground another glyph increased the distance between the two, causing Blake to throw her scythe, just as Weiss wanted.

Weiss lifted her blade into the way of the scythe, letting the weapon wrap around hers, but just as Blake planned to pull back, the ribbon was frozen solid and Weiss' rapier easily cut through it and left her scythe clattering to the floor.

"Uh oh." Someone in the stands breathed.

Weiss was speeding toward Blake, victory within her grasp. Speeding head on toward her Blake felt that the attack was a fake, surely enough it was. Blake spun around just as Weiss jumped over her and had a glyph placed behind her so that she could attack her from behind, but Blake read the attack and spun around to block the attack. Although the force of the attack was enough to knock her arm to the side, and there was more to come.

Blake immediately realised that she was standing in the midst of a newly formed dome of glyphs and Blake knew what that meant. Weiss rushed past her into another glyph, which shot her back toward Blake and into another glyph and so on and so on, turning Weiss into a white flash that danced around the dome, just slow enough for Ruby to keep track of.

Blake tried to keep up but was only able to stop at least three of seven attacks from depleting her aura further. The attacks stopped just as the gauge tittered on dropping into the red, but Weiss wasn't done.

During the attack Weiss become overwhelmed by something and had spun her canister and primed the dust she only used in serious situations. This was not a serious situation, yet there was her rapier, covered in those white glowing marks that usually marked the end of a battle and possibly a person's life.

Weiss didn't know she was doing it until it was done and she was shooting toward her teammate. Perhaps Goodwitch didn't understand the danger of the attack but Winter and her teammates did. Blake's eyes widened as she saw the white glow and was horrified to see Weiss coming towards her without any intention of stopping. Ruby's breath hitched and Yang stormed to her feet suddenly, her eyes blazing. But it was Winter who stopped the heiress.

"Weiss stop!"

Winter's voice reached Weiss' ears just before the tip of her rapier met the barrier of Blake's aura. Weiss came to a halt as if snapping out of some sort of hypnotism. She looked down at her blade and then at Blake who was looking horrified. Winter and Yang looked more angry than anything else and Ruby was looking as if she had almost lost someone, and truth be told she almost did.

"The fight isn't over." Goodwitch called.

Blake's aura was still just in the yellow, that was until Weiss pushed the point of her blade toward Blake, tapping it against her aura and just dropping it into the red.

"And that's the match. Weiss is the winner." Goodwitch announced as a slowly, uncertain applause filled the room.

Blake chased Weiss as she moved back to her seat.

"Weiss I-"

"Blake I don't want to hear it." Weiss commanded, turning to Blake with a stern expression.

"What the hell was that Weiss?" Yang hissed.

"If you honestly thought I was going to run her through perhaps you are a buffoon."

"Weiss this isn't funny." Ruby warned.

"I am aware of that." Weiss sat down between her sister and her partner, both of whom were not happy with her.

"Weiss what has gotten into you?" Winter whispered.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Weiss!"

"Please drop it, both of you."

"I will not drop it! You nearly seriously hurt Blake, out _teammate_." Ruby pressed.

"Could we please keep these matters until after class?" Goodwitch interrupted. "Thank you."

They sat back in silence, although neither Ruby or Winter were convinced by Weiss' words.

Winter saw something in her sister's eyes. There was something she hiding from them all, which was something she was generally good at, but this something seemed to be dark and heavy and it was showing, especially after what had just happened. Winter was just worried they wouldn't find out when it was too late.

* * *

**A/N: I bet NONE of you can guess what it is. Who accepts my challenge?**


	24. To keep the one's she loves safe

"We need to talk. Like really, talk."

"Ruby please, we've been through this a thousand times I don't see how this time will be any different."

"Weiss stop being so difficult."

"I'm not _difficult _I'm realistic."

"_Weeeeeiss!"_

"I agree with Ruby. Something's up and you're not telling us." Winter stated, arms followed.

Weiss looked her sister up and down, "Winter I'm not hiding anything. What would I have to hide?"

"I think we all know there's always something to hide." Ruby dead-panned.

"Weiss that fight downstairs wasn't just a _fight. You _were fighting, Blake was sparring, you nearly killed your teammate!"

"Winter why would I honestly kill my own teammate."

"I dunno, maybe because you _hate _her."

"I don't _hate _her, I'm just not happy with her."

"Weiss when are you going let her go? You're gonna have to at some point."

"Why can't you just forgive her?" Winter pleaded.

"Forgive her?! Maybe because most of all this was because of _her_. Because she'd rather save the faunas then you or any of us!"

"Weiss!"

"That is what happened, you can't deny that."

"None of this was her fault Weiss!" Winter began. "How could you possibly blame her for the actions of someone else? She wasn't the one to put me on the train, she wasn't the one to kidnap me, she wasn't the one to torture me! Was she Weiss?!"

"No but she could have prevented them! Hadn't she gotten in my way Adam would have never grabbed you and ran off!"

"Weiss that pretty much saved my life! Adam kept me alive because of what she did and who's to say that you would have stopped him then and there, his sword could have kept coming down anyway!"

"Urgh! I don't have to listen to this, I really don't! I have no idea why you are defending her! She needs to understand that her life is with us now, here in the present. Not with that monster in the White Fang from the past!"

"Oh that's rich coming from you!" Winter retorted.

"Excuse me?!"

"You're telling her to leave the past behind when you can't even do that yourself! Why should people listen to your words when you don't listen to them yourself!"

Weiss remained silent for too long and Winter continued on.

"I wish you could be more like me, to find it easy to put things in the past and move on. Sure some things stick harder than others but you have to keep going. It really wasn't hard at all to forgive Blake, especially since none of it really was her fault, her only fault was letting you make her believe it was her fault."

More silence.

"Weiss if you don't learn to leave things in the past you're going to turn out like dad and grandad." Winter finished gently, a pleading look in her eyes.

"You, forgave Blake?" Weiss asked.

"Yes I did, yesterday. It wasn't fair to let her hold a guilt that wasn't meant to be there, I didn't want her to stay weighed down by it." Winter explained.

Weiss remained silent and suddenly Ruby and Winter witnessed the heiress' expression change from angry to something more…afraid. Afraid was an inaccurate word but it best described the look on her face, it was as if she was watching a nightmare play out before, as if a dreadful horrible image washed past her. Yet somwhere within those azure coloured eyes, both Ruby and Winter saw something else, and it frightened both of them.

"I-I need to go do something." Weiss suddenly announced, quickly turning and leaving the dorm, briskly walking down the hall.

"Wh-what? Wait! Weiss!" Ruby called. "What is wrong with her?" Ruby turned back to Winter.

"I don't know but we both know it doesn't look good." Winter stated.

Ruby slumped onto her bed, exhausted and feeling defeated. Her team was back together, but they felt further apart than they ever had before. It was strange and it worried the red head. She was meant to keep them close, like one happy family, they _were _a family, but this wasn't how family acted.

Kage said this was all over, but somehow Ruby didn't feel like it was. Both Weiss and Blake were harbouring something that none of them knew of and it was causing them to move further away from the team.

* * *

Blake and Yang didn't return to their dorm with Ruby, Weiss and Winter, Blake said she had something to tell the blonde so they made their way outdoors to find a nice private place for Blake to tell Yang whatever it was she had to tell her.

For the most part of the journey Blake led the way in silence and Yang followed on quietly. She didn't really know what this was about, perhaps Blake just wanted some time alone with her partner, Yang wouldn't mind that at all. But something in the way Blake's eyes glowed told Yang it was something a bit more serious than just wanting to hang out.

So when Blake finally found a nice quite spot under a tree in the shade, not too far from Beacon's main building, Yang suddenly found herself being a little nervous. Her palms were a little clammy and her heart was beating just a little faster, hoping Blake wouldn't catch on, from the way she was acting _and _from her aura that slept within Blake's own aura, Yang tried to calm down.

"I think this is a good spot." Blake announced.

They stood around for a moment, awkwardly deciding whether they should sit on the ground or just to stand.

"So why did you bring me all the out here Blakey?" Yang asked with a warm smile, "Something tells me you just don't want to talk." The smile stayed but the tone in her voice became serious.

Blake took a deep breath before she began. "Before I tell you this, I want you to know that there's no way you're going to stop me, so don't even try."

This wasn't a good start, Yang was already worried.

"What do you me-"

Blake held her hand up, "Please let me finish."

Blake waited until Yang nodded and she continued on. "I'm telling you this because I don't want you to feel like I'm running away and sacrificing myself again, I'm telling you because I want you to know what I'm doing so you're not so worried."

"Blake what ar-" Yang really couldn't remain quite with the things Blake was saying.

"Raven is still out there and I need to get rid of her. She was my mistake so I have to fix it."

"What?! No! You can't just go and-"

"Yang please. I know what I'm doing, I know how to rid of her."

"Yeah but she's still too strong, you can't go alone!"

There was a short pause before Blake continued.

"Why do you think I told you?" Blake asked with a grin.

It took Yang a moment in her hyper worried state to understand what she was saying.

"You're telling me to come with you?" Yang asked carefully.

"I realised I may have put you through a lot of stress running away and nearly getting killed multiple times, and I guess I owe you an apology."

"No it's fine. It's my job to worry, really. You get used to it when your little sister is Ruby Rose." Yang stated with a smile. "There's no way I can talk you out of this?" Yang tried.

Blake simply raised an eyebrow at her partner.

"Urgh! Fine, I guess I'll have to come with you and make sure you don't get yourself hurt." Yang stated.

"We can't tell the others though." Blake quickly added.

"Why not?"

"Because they'll just follow and make it harder for me to focus on Raven, plus she'll just use them to distract me."

Yang nodded, "Fair enough." But Yang knew there was more to it than that. Something along the lines of, 'I don't want to hurt them all again.'

Yang reached forward as Blake's gaze fell to the ground and pulled her into a hug.

"Everything will be fine Blake, I promise. But I have to ask."

Blake hummed and looked up against Yang's chest, still held in the blonde's arms.

"What about Adam?"

Blake looked back down and Yang felt her squeeze a little tighter. "Let's get past Raven first." Blake said softly, pulling out of the hug.

"I was thinking we can go now, the sooner the better." Blake announced.

"Ruby's going to be so pissed at me." Yang stated.

"To be fair she did leave us behind to be late for class, so I guess that makes you even."

"Good point." Yang breathed. "Can I get a kiss before we head off into danger?" Yang asked with a grin.

Blake looked at her partner and rolled her eyes with a smile. Leaning forward on her toes to capture her partners lips in her own. Blake felt her aura spark and crackle and the sensation brought a smile to her lips where they were pressed against Yang's.

"What? It was a good kiss." Yang explained a little sheepishly as they pulled back.

Blake watched her partner turn her head and scratch the back of her neck, a bit like her little sister.

"I know it was." Blake replied with a smile, leading the way to the transports.

"Besides, you should have seen how weird your aura felt. It was like a little happy, shadow puppet show." Yang stated with a grin, throwing her arm over Blake's shoulder as the faunas blushed horribly.

Now it was Blake's turn to look away. "Like you said, it was a good kiss."

* * *

Weiss sat in the transport ship silently on her own, looking out the window and left to her thoughts, thoughts she wished would leave her.

She couldn't forgive Blake, it wouldn't be fair. She was angry at the faunas, angry because of everything that's happened and because of what she was about to do. She was angry at Blake but that wasn't why she couldn't forgive her.

She couldn't forgive Blake because Blake should be the one forgiving her. Weiss should be the one apologising, not just for putting the blame on Blake, but for what she was planning to do.

She wasn't even sure whether she could do what she was planning with the thoughts she was having now. Blake was her friend and she would never expect Blake to forgive her for this, but for the sake of her sister and her family it had to be done. If she wanted them all to be safe for now on, to stop the White Fang she had to send them a message, a powerful message. She had to show them the Schnee's were not an easy target anymore, that they could fight, that _she _could fight.

But this wasn't the way she really wanted to do it, was it?

To have to do this to someone she cared about, to her friend, to Blake. After everything she put the girl through she was going to do this? What sort of person did that make her? But it was all justified, it was all for her family and in fact for everyone else hurt by the White Fang. It was all justified, wasn't it?

So why was she silently crying in her seat as the airship made its way toward its destination. She knew what this would do to Blake, she had experienced something similar, to lose someone you love. But it was never by the hands of someone she called a friend.

Weiss wasn't afraid of Blake coming after, wasn't afraid of the faunas seeking revenge against her, Weiss knew she would do the same thing if one of her friends did the same to Ruby. What Weiss was afraid of was destroying Blake's life, shattering her heart and sending her into an endless spiral into hatred and darkness.

She was worried about Blake, so why do what she was going to do? Why not leave it and then she wouldn't have to worry?

Because of her sister, her mother, her cousins, uncles and aunties. People she loved, Ruby. Because of all of them.

Yet the tears continued to quietly roll down her cheeks as she sobbed lightly, staring out the window.

She was about to become a monster, she was about to ruin her friends life, to keep those she loved safe she was sacrificing one of those people in the process.

When the time came, would she really be able to complete the act. Or will the tears start streaming and she'll relent and fall to her knees in defeat?

Either option was just as bad as the other, so essentially, Weiss had thrown herself into a lose-lose situation. There was no turning back.

Either she ruined Blake's life, or she lost hers.

* * *

"This is weird, it's been like three hours since we finished and Blake and Yang still aren't back. Neither is Weiss." Ruby stated pacing across her room.

"Where do you think those two went? I mean I don't really want to know, what if their doing something, you know, private? Why am I thinking about that!? Eewl that's my sister! Aw great now I scared myself for life!" Ruby smacked her forehead a couple of times.

"What about Weiss? This wouldn't be the first time she's stormed off like that, but still I can't help but worrying. I do _love _her you know. I mean of course you know you're her sister and all, hehe."

Winter wasn't listening to Ruby at all, she was consumed by her own contemplation about what her sister had done. Something kept plaguing her mind, something Weiss said.

_'This fight isn't over.'_

Her words kept playing through her mind and Winter was trying to decode the message, to attach the pieces and work out what her sister was saying and why she's acting the way she was.

"Winter?" Ruby called.

Winter absentmindedly hummed in response.

Her words, the thing with Blake, the look in her eyes, the way she left. It all seemed random and unrelated but Winter was sure there was a connection.

_'The fight isn't over.'_

What fight? The fight with the White Fang? Well of course it isn't over it will never be over. It really wasn't that—

Winter's eyes shot open as she reached a sudden realisation.

"This is bad!"

"Woah what? What is?" Ruby asked alarmed.

"Weiss, Weiss is bad. She's doing bad things!" Winter called, moving around the room.

"What? What do you mean? What is she doing?"

Winter hardly believed it herself but considering the circumstances and her actions Winter believed she was right. Weiss said the fight wasn't over, of course it wasn't over with the White Fang, but this was all very personal and someone Weiss had gotten personal with was Adam.

The fight wasn't over with Adam.

All that stuff with Blake, was because of what Weiss had decided.

"Winter what's going on?"

"Ruby my sister is going to kill Adam."

* * *

**A/N: Now before anyone say's anything, I guess this does seem a little out of character for someone like Weiss, but i guess if you add everything that's happened, a little bit of desperate time calls for desperate actions. **


	25. The fight isn't over-part 2

"So what's the plan Blake? If it's smash in, smash out then you brought the right blonde." Yang asked with a grin, smacking her fists together.

"Well not exactly." Blake began after rolling her eyes. "We do need to get in but once we find her there won't be much fighting."

"Oh?"

"What I figured a little too late last time was that when she was taking my aura she had to use her own to grab hold of mine. Before you all stormed in I realised that I could have pulled back against her aura, which would not have only saved me it may have gotten rid of her." Blake explained.

"You sure that's how it works?"

"Well, I may have explained it poorly. What I need to do to get rid of her is reconnect the link between me and her, she's still just a clone. Just like with Luna, once the link is reconnected I should be able to, 'get rid of her'."

"So what are you going to do? It sounds like you're going to need her get to you first."

Blake remained silent as she looked at her partner, letting the silence between them filled with the gently hum of the engine answer the question."

"Right." Yang nodded as she though it over. "I'm not sure I like that plan."

"There's really no other option."

* * *

"WHAT!? What do you mean she's going to kill Adam!?" Ruby yelled, running after Winter down the hall.

"Ruby I really don't know how else to explain it." Winter yelled over her shoulder.

"W-Well how do you know?"

"Uh, call a hunch?"

"A hunch!?"

"It's more than a hunch, just, we need to get to her before she does something she'll regret. The last ship leaves in less than two minutes, we won't make it as it is."

There was a pause and Winter though for a moment Ruby had just stopped talking. But;

"Your sister hates it when I do this-"

"Do whaAAAAA"

Ruby caught up to Winter and scooped her up into her arms and just as she was safely secure in her grasp Ruby's semblance flared and shot her down the remaining length of the hall, she came to a grinding halt as sge waited impatiently for the lift, which gave Winter enough time to realise what just happened.

"Weiss hates that! That was awesome!"

Ruby quickly stepped into the lift and Winter dismounted from her arms.

"I know right. Having super speed is extremely handy when you're running late. Which seems to be happening quite a lot."

The lift dinged and the doors slowly opened, but as soon as they were open wide enough, Ruby and Winter were shooting out of the building.

"We should tell Blake and Yang." Ruby stated when they were seated in the last transport to leave that night.

"Good idea." Winter said as Ruby opened her scroll.

After a few seconds of silence Ruby lowered her scroll and frowned at it.

"She didn't answer."

"Its fine maybe their busy or something. Perhaps it's better if they don't get involved." Winter stated.

* * *

"What are you do-"

Myrtenaster sung out as it cut off the guard standing by the door, quickly diminishing the man's aura before Weiss spun around and her heel contacted with the side of his skull. He crumpled to floor with a clatter as his weapon fell out of his grasp, Weiss pulled the door open and cursed the hinges as they groaned loudly against the heavy metal door.

A narrow hallway stretched out before her, the grey concrete walls moving on in front of her, the left wall stopping before the right. To the left a room stretched out, there was a door off to the right of the room and opposite the door sat a staircase that led to the next level.

Weiss moved down the hall as quietly as possible, for once regretting wearing heels all her life as their clicks echoed against the stone, sterile walls. A door to her right that she noticed to late, swung open and the man she was looking at stood silent for a moment as he tried to comprehend who was before him.

But just as his mouth opened a glyph shot him back into the room where he slammed into a cabinet smashing the door and becoming wedged in the crumpled metal of the door.

It was just then that Weiss realised she had no idea where she should go and needed to get some answers from someone, and she wouldn't have to wait long.

* * *

"How do you know she'll still be here, Adam didn't look too happy with her after what she did." Yang whispered from behind her partner as they crept along the outside of the building.

"Call it a sixth sense." Blake replied.

"Who do you think you are? Cat woman?" Yang teased with a smile.

Blake groaned and rolled her eyes at the comment, slightly regretting bringing her along.

"Be quite, there's a sentry just behind that wall." Blake pointed to the grey wall jutting out of the side of the building.

"How do you know?" Yang asked, disregarding Blake's command.

"Shadow." Blake pointed to a dark shape on the ground, just peeking out behind the wall.

The shape moved, swaying from side to side as if the owner of the shadow was shifting on his feet.

"Go say hi, I'll go over." Blake stated, moving toward the wall.

"Why am I always the distraction?"

"Because you're the hot blonde remember?" Blake stopped and turned to her partner, winking as Yang past her.

A broad smile spread across her face just as she stepped out of the shadows and right in front of the sentry.

"Hiya! Nice night isn't it?" Yang greeted sweetly.

"Uh what?"

Blake leaped down from the wall, landing on the man's head before flipping forward, the guards head was forced to the side, straight into the wall by his side where it smacked painfully against it. Yang cringed as the man went limp against the wall and slowly slid to the ground.

"Well that wasn't very nice was it?" Yang met Blake beside the man.

"I wasn't going for nice." Blake replied, "We should probably move him."

"We should." Yang stated, staring at the man. After a moment Yang realised Blake was staring at her.

"What? I'm the hot blonde _and _the muscle?"

"What can I say, you're a hot blonde who's also strong. Aren't I luck?" Blake said with a smile.

* * *

"Yeah, yeah I know."

….

"No I'm leaving now, I'm walking toward the door."

…..

"Who Jerry? Yeah he should be on watch tonight."

….

"Alright, no worries. Bye."

Just as the agent was done talking on his scroll he strolled past the door on his left situated halfway down the hall. He was headed home after a rough day and he couldn't wait to-

"AAH!"

He yelled out as he was suddenly sucked into the room next to him.

He heard the door shut behind him as he was roughly thrown to the ground.

"Wah-Who's there?" He trembled.

"Tell me where Adam is?" A woman's voice demanded.

"A-Adam?" His head jerked up as he felt the tip of a blade against his throat.

"The faunas leader! Where is he?" The voice repeated, although the voice sounded as if the speaker was trembling.

"I-I dunno, he could be anywhere in this building. It's not like we stay in the same place all the time."

"Are you giving me attitude?"

He felt the blade press against his neck again. "N-no ma'am."

"Get up!"

"What?"

"Get up!" The woman yelled.

He hesitantly got up, the tip of the blade never leaving his neck. He got to his feet and instinctively held his hands up as he waited for the woman.

"Move toward the door!"

He felt the blade flick toward the door but hardly left his neck for a second. It was dark in the room and it wasn't until he was on his feet that he actually looked at the woman. Perhaps the woman thought the darkness would conceal her but she must have forgotten he was a faunas, everyone in this building was.

"Weiss Schnee?" He asked.

He felt the tip of the blade go rigid as the girl seemed to tense up.

"Just get outside!" She commanded.

He listened and went to the door and slowly stepped outside, the tip of the blade moving around to his side and then finally to the back of his neck where it stayed and it was used to direct him. Weiss moved up the hall and turned left, moving toward the door to the right of the room. She had him open the door again and step through, which led to a much narrower hall that led straight down to another door at the end.

They reached that door and stepped through, ending up in the storage bay. A huge, wide room filled with boxes and crates to the side. A line of Paladin Mech suits standing dormant in the centre, where the floor was lowered and sunk below where they were standing. Schnee crates were held on the second floor above the grated level.

"You've got his number don't you?" Weiss suddenly asked, causing him to jump.

"His number? Well yeah."

"Call him, bring him down here."

He hesitated for a second.

"Now!"

* * *

"Okay so now that we're in, how do we find her?"

"We don't. She comes to us." Blake replied.

"O-kay. Where do we wait?" Yang asked.

"Anywhere Yang." Blake answered, exasperated. "Honestly you're like a child."

"Hey you invited me." Yang reminded Blake.

"Don't remind me."

"If it's going to be anywhere than," Yang calmly strolled along glancing at each door she walked past as if she was window shopping. "Tttttttthis one!"

Yang stopped at a door a flung it open with hesitation, pointing her arm into the room as if she was wearing an arm cannon, which to be fair, she kinda was.

"Yang!" Blake yelled.

"What? It's empty." Yang explained.

"Why are you taking this so easy? This is serious!"

"I know that, but c'mon gimme a break I'm just worried."

"Worried?" Blake perked an eye brow as she stepped into the room.

"Of course I am." Yang followed her and shut the door behind her. "What is this room anyway?"

"Looks like a, rec room." Blake said looking around the room.

"A rec-room? The White Fang has those?"

"Yang they're still people." Blake stated.

Yang looked around the room, sure enough it seemed like a rec-room. There was a tv at one end, couches surrounding it. On the opposite end of the room sat a few tables and chairs, along the wall sat a fridge positioned next to a sink and a tap.

"Wow." Yang breathed, "this is kinda cool. Shame we're going to trash it soon."

"Is that so?" A voice echoed through the room, the wicked smile could easily be heard behind the words.

* * *

This was stupid! It was ridiculous! What did that pathetic little Schnee know anyway? Nothing that's what. Who did she think she was, standing before him like that and saying things like that!

_'Perhaps you don't want to be the monster we all know you for.'_

Who did she think she was talking to?!

What made Adam angry the most was the fact that he kept thinking about it, amongst other things, but the stupid words kept passing through his mind.

All of this, everything that was happening had begun stirring something within him from the second he saw Blake on that train. It was irritating and frustrating!

All of the sudden Adam found himself questioning himself as he once did before Blake had left him. Questioning what he had become, what he had done and what he was fighting for. What he was killing for. Questioning his loyalty, the White Fang, the humans. He was confused and angry and he didn't know what to do, where to go or who to turn to. He had no one, he used to have someone but that person left him and now they grown far apart. He was alone and had nowhere to go.

He was stuck in this life. There was no other place for him besides the White Fang. Nobody else would accept him for the things he had done besides the White Fang. There was no redemption for him, there was no second chance, he had gone too far down this path and now he couldn't turn back.

But he wasn't a monster.

He couldn't be. All that he had done he did because it was for the greater good of the faunas, of his kin. But was that enough?

A beast in the wild would strike down any predator to protect its kin, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a beast. But what about a beast who protects those who aren't part of its kin? What does that beast become? Something greater, something better?

What was he saying?! The humans are pests, they're cruel, ruthless beings, they're nothing! Aren't they?

_'What is the difference Adam? What?' _Blake's voice echoed through his thoughts.

_'You're just blinded by your hatred!' _She continued.

Was she right? Was that why he couldn't see the world Blake did? Why she was able to see what they had become and he couldn't?

His parents used to tell him;

"No matter what anyone says, human or faunas, no matter what they say, you are not a monster."

Their one fear seemed to be that their children would grow up thinking they were beasts, that they just looked like humans but really were nothing alike. They wanted their children to know that that wasn't true, that they were just as good as any human and just as precious. They were afraid that they'd grow up, believing they were monsters and would become one.

So what was Adam?

Had he failed his parents?

Did it matter? Did it even matter, because either way there was no going back! He was stuck! He was gone, there was no way he could go back! The lives he's taken, lives he's destroyed, they would never leave him, there was no redemption.

A faint buzzing pulled Adam from his thoughts and he sat up from his position with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He stood up and took out his scroll and answered it.

"Uh, s-sir?"

"What?"

"Uh, W-Weiss Schnee is here to see you."

"What?!"

"She's waiting in the storage bay."

"What do you mean?!"

"I-I-" the voice over the call suddenly raised a few octaves as if someone had poked him, "Just come down sir, r-right now."

Weiss Schnee? Alone? What was she thinking?

* * *

"Is he coming?"

"I-I think so."

"Good."

The man was unconscious on the ground right after Weiss got what she needed. She looked at the man's limp body before stepping over it and looking around the room, searching for the door she expected Adam to come from.

Weiss wasn't sure if he ran or he wasn't far from her in the first place, but it didn't take long for Adam to enter the storage bay.

"Miss Schnee."

He came in from a door just in front of her at the other end of the bay. He calmly stepped in and walked up to meet her, leaving a few meters in between them.

Weiss straightened up as he walked in and greeted her calmly. This was it, this was the do or die moment and it might really be do or die.

"I didn't expect someone like you to do something like this. You could have stayed home and would have never had to see me again."

"I think we both know this fight isn't over." Winter replied, lifting her rapier.

"Why did you come here?"

Adam watched as the Schnee took a deep breath and readjusted her stance, as if she was calming her nerves. Which shouldn't really surprise Adam, but just something about the girl looked off, her eyes weren't as stern as he had seen them be, he could even swear he saw them wavering. Whatever it was, Adam couldn't pin point it because she was coming at him right now.

Weiss rushed him, meeting him with the point of her rapier dancing across his own blade. She swiftly executed three more attacks, all of which were meet equally by Wilt, before she gracefully leaped into the air above Adam's head, passing behind him.

Weiss soared above his head and as she did she waved her hand over his head and spawned a glyph, it sat there for less than a second before it quickly faded red and exploded downward on top of him. Adam rolled out of the way just as a huge plume of fire burst down from the glyph, he came to his feet with the nip of his sleeve lazily burning away and he easily snuffed the flame out just as Weiss reached him again.

Adam quickly unsheathed his blade in an attempt to parry her attack, but before her blade met his, she had shot up into the air above him, leaving his blade to swing through empty space. Weiss jumped above Adam again, but she landed on another glyph that shot her toward the grated roofing above her.

She slid along the metal, her heels leaving a trail of sparks as she went upside, coming to a stop as another glyph held her in position and readied to shoot her down toward Adam like a meteor.

Weiss flew toward Adam, but Adam was too quick. He swiftly stepped to the side as Weiss past him and as he did Blush came up and fired at the heiress' stomach as she flew. The shotgun round pelted into her abdomen and caused her to lose concentration as she tried to bring her feet forward to land. Instead she curled into a ball as she slammed against the cold hard ground and slid along the concrete.

Weiss quickly got to her feet and found it strange that Adam hadn't taken the opportunity to advance on her, but she disregarded the thought as she approached him again.

Adam waited for her to come to him and easily parried each attack that came his way. He followed the heiress as she moved to his side and around him, effectively causing him to turn around. Once he had completed the full turn, the glyph she had summoned as they turned activated and exploded against Adam's back, covering it in a layer of thick ice.

Adam yelled out at the sudden coldness covering his back and lurched forward, he noticed Weiss waving her hand before her and instinctively spun around. Sure enough Weiss had summoned another glyph which released a ball of fire upon the faunas, luckily for him it melted the ice at his back when he spun around, but it still burnt him.

He fell to the floor with a grunt and quickly got back to his feet, in time to see a bolt of electricity shoot through the ball of smoke toward him. He quickly turned to the side, letting the bolt pass right by his shoulder, but the streak of highly charged particles arched outwards and reached the front of his mask.

The air at his face crackled and sparked and his head jerked back by the force of the charge, he stumbled to the side but kept his footing, turning back toward the heiress. It seemed that at every chance she got, she used her glyphs and dust to try and attack him instead of her blade, it might have just been because she knew she couldn't stand against him up close, but Adam had a feeling there was more to it

* * *

Yang turned just in time to lift her arm above her head to stop the foot that was arching down on top of her head. It seemed the figure had come out of nowhere but Yang was quick enough to react. No sooner had Yang stopped the attack had she lashed out with a counter, using her free hand to jab forward at the Raven, contacting the woman in the chest and launching her backward, crashing through the tables and chairs.

"Well yeah, I mean look," Yang waved to the mess she had just created, "We already started trashing it."

Raven got to her feet with that same wicked smile on her face, it seemed nothing deterred the woman from smiling except maybe calling her a clone.

Raven brushed off the shards and splinters of table and chairs and came rushing at Yang without notice. Yang smiled as Raven came at her head on and waited for the right moment before throwing her fist out toward her. But strangely her arm past through thin air and Raven's figure shimmered and vanished, Yang's aura tingled a little too late as she spun around to find Raven kicking off the couch behind her and shooting her foot out into Yang's head.

Blake called out in alarm as Yang stumbled backward and tripped over the broken furniture, tumbling into the mess with a thud and more cracking of wood. But somewhere from within the mess came a burning flare, blasting toward Raven. Raven had enough notice to roll out of the way, letting the flare detonate against the ceiling, leaving it charred and crumbling.

Yang stormed to her feet, picking up one of the larger broken pieces of the table and throwing it at Raven. The chunk of wood soared toward her but her blade came down and easily sliced the piece clean in two, letting both pieces clatter to ground harmlessly by her side.

Yang was still charging toward her and reached out to grab Raven's wrist, but once again when she should have touched flesh she felt nothing but air, this time her aura tingled soon enough for her to spin around and bring a gauntlet up to block Raven's blade.

Yang now had her back to the wall as Raven continued to press against her, lashing out with her sword. Yang kept up well until Raven swiftly removed the sheath portion of her blade during one of her swings, causing Yang to miss it as it danced across Yang's aura.

Yang grunted from the sting and jerked back against the wall behind her, Raven took the opportunity and spun around to cleave the blondes head right off her neck. But Yang wasn't that slow, or weak, easily ducking beneath the blade, letting it dig into the wall and become lodged there.

Yang wasted no time, firing her gauntlets and causing her to rise to her feet with alarming speed, her fist trailing along in an upper cut with the force of her whole body behind it as well as Ember Celica. Her fist slammed into Raven's chin and lifted her off her feet, she floated in the air for a moment before Yang spun around and kicked Raven, her gauntlet firing once more to add more power to the kick.

Raven soared through the air coming to a stop as she hit the wall at the other end of the room, passing Blake in the process. Blake turned to her partner as Raven slammed into the wall, "Yang!"

"What? It's not my fault she came for me not you." Yang replied.

She understood this wasn't exactly how the plan was supposed to go, but sometimes you had to work on the fly.

"You know you could always help." Yang stated, folding her arms and jutting her hip to one side.

Blake shut her mouth and narrowed her eyes, issuing a low growl from her throat.

Raven groaned to her feet, shaking her head as her world slowly stopped spinning. She focused on the blonde and her eyes narrowed in an angry glare as she charged at her.

Yang waited as Raven approached, running past Blake as if she was nothing. Yang had to admit, it was strange but what could she do?

Raven swung her katana down over her head toward Yang and Yang easily deflected the attack and shot her own fist out to punch Raven in the gut. But once again, Raven's figure wavered and vanished just as her fist should have hit her.

Instead Yang found her a few feet in front of her, where she threw something into the air and just as Yang realised what it was it came swinging around her head and cutting across her face. Her aura took the force of the attack and held strong, but then the scythe came arcing back down along her abdomen and shaved a bit more off her aura.

Raven was about to bring the scythe back around another time but Blake rushed her and tackled her around the waist to the ground. They grappled and rolled around on the floor, Blake coming out on top. They fought for control, Raven trying to knock Blake's feet to the side in an attempt to throw her off balance, while her arms tried to throw Blake of her all together.

The two Blake's were a mix of grunts and groans as they continued to struggle. Blake pinned Ravens hand down against the ground and Raven felt her hand hit something wooden, she glanced to the side and found the remains of the tables and chairs beside them.

Blake opened her mouth to say something before Raven grabbed one of the chairs legs and swung it at Blake's head. The solid wooden object thunked against Blake's skull with a loud crack and then Raven found it easy to push Blake off her. Blake rolled over with a groan as her world faded into black and then back to reality. She tried to get up but found her arms to be unresponsive and fell back onto her stomach with a groan.

"Blake!" Yang rushed to her partner side but Raven stepped in the way.

"I don't remember saying I needed Blake alive did I? This gives us some time to get to know each other better, although I already know so much about you Yang." Raven said calmly.

Yang growled and rushed toward Raven, Raven smiled as the blonde charged toward her, her fist coming around in an attempt to knock her out.

Of course Yang's fist past through nothing but a fake, except this time, instead of looking for the real Raven, Yang surged with energy and her semblance burst into life, issuing a shockwave that blew out in every direction.

Raven was caught off guard in the air above Yang's head and was pushed higher into the air, bouncing off the roof with a grunt. Yang looked up and found Raven falling toward her, she jumped up, Ember Celica helping her to meet Raven high in the air. When she became level with her Yang pulled her arm back and thrust it forward, her gauntlet blasting and pushing her fist faster than it could on its own, which right now was still an amazing amount.

Yang's fist slammed into Ravens side and launched back toward the ground, she came rocketed back to the earth and smashed straight into the glass table positioned in between all the couched and in front of the tv. Glass exploded and shattered over Raven's form as Yang landed back to her feet at which point she quickly moved to Blake's side.

"Blake! Blake!"

Surprisingly Blake found that her head wasn't hurting as much anymore, she took a moment to ponder why and found the answer in the burning fire within her heart, Yang. Not only was Yang's aura burning within her own body it was burning within Blake's where it sat belonging to her, apparently helping her body heal what damage it had suffered.

"I-I'm fine. A little hot, but fine." Blake slowly rose to her feet.

"Hot?" Yang queried.

"It's nothing. Stop fighting her, this isn't how this is supposed to go."

"I can't do anything, she keeps coming for me."

"She won't any longer."

Blake moved over to Rave and stood over her as she crawled along the ground and struggled to her feet.

"I don't know what you were thinking Raven, coming after us, after me. What can you do anyway? You're just a clone after all."

Raven paused, making sure she heard correctly. Once she confirmed she had she was on her feet in an instant with Blake's neck in her grasp as she pressed her against the wall.

"Clone? A clone? Just, a clone!?"

Blake gagged as Raven squeezed her neck painfully. She had to signal Yang to stay put with her hand as Raven continued on, this was it.

"I, am not a clone. Not anymore, not any longer. I will be my own, I will have freedom!"

"Go ahead." Blake taunted.

Raven boiled with anger, Blake was in her grasp, she was going to die and she would be free.

Blake's face scrunched up as her whole body tingled and shivered as her aura suddenly shifted in one direction. Blake managed to stifle a yell as her aura was beginning to be yanked away, a dark hand wrapping around it and pulling on it tightly.

The pulling continued and the pain doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled. Each passing moment causing the pain to add on to itself. The feeling was immense and horrible, as if her actual body was being pulled through a jagged strainer, lined with blades within it. It was so much that Blake almost forgot what she had to do, she had already give Raven a head start, so it was time she fought back.

But when she tried to fight back, nothing happened.

The only visible thing that did happen was Raven smiling back at her.

"You've lost this battle, you'll never win on your own."

Blake yelled out as the pulling turned into yanking. Yanking at her aura and tearing at it piece by piece. Blake grabbed Raven's hand and her nails dug into her flesh as she tried to alleviate some of the pain. It was happening all over again, it was all becoming dark and hazing.

Blake couldn't actually believe this was it, she literally couldn't believe it that she didn't accept that it was happening. Right in front of Yang.

Yang? Yang!

"I didn't remember mentioning that Blake was alone, did I?" Yang asked, mimicking Ravens words from before.

Raven met the blondes smile just as she felt a burning sensation within her. As she pulled against Blake's aura it seemed to heat up, heat up and burn as she pulled against it. Something was wrong, this wasn't right, this wasn't Blake's aura.

This was wrong, it was horribly wrong. Raven should be staring down at a dark, barren aura. An aura void of light or warmth or anything, Blake's aura! Not this!

Instead she was staring at a dark deep cave and it seemed she had woken a blazing dragon that rested within the cave and it was now raging to the surface, spreading its fire, piercing through the darkness and basking the world in a gold, blazing light.

"You're an idiot Raven." Yang said simply.

Both Blake and Yang pulled back against Raven's aura, drawing it in and reconnected her to Blake, reinstating Raven as a mere clone, bound to its creator and powerless against her. Blake smiled as Raven let her go and watched her eyes widen in horror.

"After all, you are just a clone."

Then Blake cut her off.

* * *

A barrage of icy projectiles rushed toward Adam from within the haze of the smoke before him. He swiftly brought his blade around and deflected each missile with ease, causing them to burst on impact. As soon as the last one exploded against his blade Weiss was already upon him.

Adam spun around and leaped off the wall of boxes and crates behind him, leaping over Weiss and landing behind her. She spun around to meet him, stepping forward with her rapier dancing before her. The attacks weren't that powerful, they were precise and accurate, but a fencer was never built for power. So perhaps if Weiss had found an opening in Adam's defence she could have landed a substantial hit, but the way she was fighting now seemed wrong and almost desperate.

So instead Adam found all too easy to parry an attack and grab her left wrist. He held her there for a moment, looking into her eyes before lashing out with his foot and kicking her backward.

She yelled out as his foot slammed into her chest and sent her backward, she slammed into the boxes and crates lining the wall and fell to her knees. She remained in her hands and knees staring at the ground as she panted heavily, so this was it wasn't it?

But strangely enough, Adam didn't move. He remained in his spot where he kicked her from and watched her silently. Weiss wondered why, wondered what sort of game he was playing. Giving her chance after chance to try and kill him as if tormenting her to do something she felt she had no other choice to do no matter how much it weighed down on her and crushed her resolve.

Just then a box fell onto the ground in front of her, spilling tis contents along the ground. A cluster of about four small, light purple crystals rolled out and rested in front of her. She stared at them for a moment, then out of the corner of her eye glanced over at Adam. He was still watching her.

So with the flick of her wrist a small glyph appeared beneath the crystals and she waved them toward Adam, sliding them along the ground until the rested by his feet, at which point the glyph crackled and tendrils of electricity arched around the crystals and caused the volatile energies of Nature's Wrath to break free and unleash itself upon its surroundings.

The crystals exploded by Adam's feet and lifted him off his feet and launched him meters away from Weiss. The explosion itself was spectacular, an orchid coloured haze burst from the little rocks and blew outward, dancing through the air without a care in the world. The explosion reached the grated ceiling above it and caused it to collapse and give, dropping a few of the Schnee Dust crates onto the floor below it, the crate broke open in impact and thousands of dust canisters, vials and crystals came tumbling out.

Adam got to his feet with a groan, feeling his sore behind pulse with a dull ache. He found his weapon and turned back to Weiss, just as the crates hit the ground and spilled out in front of her. Adam watched the heiress' eyes dance from him back to the crate and then back to him again.

_'She wouldn't!'_

It seemed like she would.

Another glyph formed by the crate and launched it toward Adam, it slid across the ground as sparks danced off its metallic surface and just as it reached Adam, Weiss had already imbued her rapier with her own mix of Nature's Wrath. Her sword glowed purple and shimmered as she pointed it toward the crate and fired.

Except the beam of energy never hit the crate, instead Adam leapt in the way with his blade taking the beam head on. The energy dispersed against his blade, yet most of it remained to be absorbed as his semblance activated. Once the barrage ceased his sword was sheathed in an instant, his clothing glowed and his mask took on an even more intimidating appearance as it too glowed red.

Now all he had to do was figure out what to do with all this energy. As he quickly looked around he realised there was no where he could let it out with causing some sort of explosion.

"Oh fuck it." He breathed and slashed his blade toward the Mech suits to his side.

The wave of energy cleaved through the suits easily and of course, as he predicted, they exploded.

The suits blew up in unison, throwing broken parts and robotic limbs in all different directions. Fortunately none of the suits were loaded with missiles or any other explosives, or so was regulation. One suit, one suit still had one measly missile still sitting in its pod, if Adam came out this alive he would have their head. The surrounding explosions caused the missile to go hay wire and grow a mind of its own, shooting off any random direction.

Both Weiss and Adam watched as the missile streaked through the air and then suddenly banked upward, straight toward the second level housing the hundreds of Schnee dust crates which themselves housed thousands and thousands of different forms of Natures Wrath.

Just great.

The missile detonated first, a regular orange and black ball of fire and smoke, until the first crate was breached. Everything seemed to slow down, time coming to a halt as a strange mix of electric blue and purple burst from the crate and expanded outwards. Followed by a similar explosion of yellow and red and then the reaction had begun and it all sped up again.

BOOM!

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Yang yelled over the noise.

The entire building shook and shuddered and felt as if it would crumble any moment. What they had just heard was astonishing. It was no doubt an explosion, a really loud one at that. It seemed to shake the night itself, rattling the sky and shaking the stars and the moon with its power.

"We should go see what it was." Blake stated, her ears instinctively pressing flat against her hair.

"Sure let's go towards the huge giant explosion that definitely sounded like the world is dying."

"You sound like your sister." Blake shook her head and led the way.

"Maybe because my sister has good points sometimes." Yang replied with a smirk jogging after her partner.

Blake scoffed and shook her head, running toward where she thought the explosion came from, with a noise that loud it could have come from anywhere. But it didn't take them long to find it, considering, that an entire quarter of the building was now destroyed.

They ran toward the centre of the mess, the air still sizzling and popping. Snow was somehow falling in some places, things were on fire, metal had been twisted and melted. The air still crackled with electricity and bits of the building were still collapsing.

But what caught both their eyes was what sat in the centre of the destruction.

Two blurred shadows of two people could be seen standing, hidden within a dome of thick, blue ice.

* * *

**A/N: Angst inbound!**


	26. Resolution

**A/N: So, I'm not really sure how I went from a plot stand point. Perhaps I built it up too much, maybe this isn't the climax the story needed, I'm not sure. It's up to you guys to decide, coz I really have no clue how good/bad this is.**

* * *

"Weiss?" Blake breathed, running up to the dome.

"Yeah Weiss and who?" Yang asked.

"It's Adam, Weiss and Adam."

Both Blake and Yang turned to meet the new comer.

"Winter? Ruby?"

"What happened?" Ruby asked, looking around.

"We don't know." Yang answered.

"Adam? What do you mean? What's going on?" Blake asked Winter.

"Blake, Weiss wants to kill Adam."

"WHAT! No, s-she can't! Why would she do that? _She'll_ get killed! What was she thinking?!" Blake turned back to the dome and started banging on it.

"Weiss! Adam! Stop!" Blake turned to Yang. "We need to get through."

Blake turned back to look at the two shadows within the dome, her mind racing with a thousand questions.

"D-Do something!" Blake yelled at her partner.

Weiss wanted to kill Adam? No! Weiss couldn't kill Adam, she couldn't let him die. She couldn't!

"Weiss! Weiss stop please!"

Blake banged her fist against the cold hard ice another time, yelling at its surface.

"Yang!"

"What? I-I don't know what to do."

Blake growled and slammed the ice again.

This couldn't actually be happening could it? What if Weiss actually did it? What if she killed Adam?

_'No! He can't die! I won't let him! I won't let her!'_

Yang could feel just how desperate Blake was right now. Her aura had retreated in on itself as if it was hiding and no matter what Yang tried to do to call it back, it remained still. Blake was trembling, trembling and crumbling.

She was powerless to do anything and it was killing her. She needed to stop them, she had to do something!

"Yang! Please!"

"Blake I don't know!"

"Just-smash it or something! Anything! Please!" Blake's eyes were quivering and tears had made their way down her cheeks.

_'Not again.'_ Yang thought as she watched her partner tremble and shudder as her world was seemingly crashing down on her.

"We have to do something!" Winter stated.

Yang's fist slammed into the thick ice and the dome shuddered as a loud thud echoed through the air, but that was about it. She tried again but it still had the same affect. Then the third time her fist was wrapped in a warm fire as it smashed into the ice, but even then the damage inflicted was nothing worth celebrating.

Then the two shadows in the dome moved toward each other and the clashing of weaponry could just be heard from within.

"No! No stop!" Blake yelled, banging the ice again, her voice cracking as she continued to cry and desperation clawed at her heart.

"Weiss." Ruby breathed softly as she walked up to the dome and placed her hand against.

Usually Weiss' ice wasn't that bad to Ruby, she always found it tolerable, sometimes even in battle. There was just that little bit of Weiss she could always feel in it, it was enough for Ruby to know that Weiss was still there, the Weiss that she loved.

But when Ruby touched the dome her arm jerked back from how cold it felt. This ice was freezing, cold and barren. Ruby knew that Weiss wasn't her normal self, all of this, none of it was something Weiss would do. But that honestly didn't matter at all, the cause of all this wasn't relevant to Ruby right now, what was relevant was stopping Weiss before she did something she'd regret.

* * *

"What is all this about?" Adam asked as he watched over Weiss.

"You know what it's about!" Weiss replied, cursing her voice as it shook slightly.

"What I know is that you're not thinking straight. That something dark is one your mind and that you haven't been fighting me properly, using any way you can to indirectly harm me as if you don't want to get your hands dirty." Adam stated, eyeing the heiress carefully.

"N-none of that is correct." Weiss stammered.

"Then prove it." Adam said, spreading his arms open.

Weiss' grip around her hilt tightened as she forced herself to rise and engage her opponent. The came together in an exchange and then were separated once again.

Weiss was panting due to the length of the battle and how much she had already exerted herself, summoning all those glyphs and using all of that dust. The glared up at Adam just when she heard the banging.

She turned around and found four darkened figures on the other side of the ice. One was standing with her hand gently placed against the ice, another was standing a few feet away while the remaining two continued to beat on the ice. The larger figure seemed to be the cause of the loudest of the bangs and Weiss would take a guess and say it was Yang, especially after she saw the outline of her hair.

Which probably made the one next to her Blake, and the one to the side felt like Ruby, meaning the figure standing behind them all would be Winter.

Weiss could faintly hear Blake's muffled voice reach her through the ice.

"Weiss! Please stop!"

Another loud thud shook the dome as Yang through her fist at it once again.

"Tell me again Weiss, what is this all about?" Adam repeated.

Weiss slowly turned away from the blurred figures back to Adam, forcing herself to ignore Blake's voice, but oh how hard it was to block out her pleas. Each time she called out her name Weiss cringed and a stab of guilt ran through her being. Each soft thud against the dome, reverberated within her body and continued to echo through her.

"This was about," Weiss began slowly, taking a moment to make sure her voice didn't crack.

"This was about finishing this, once and for all. Getting rid of the White Fang from our lives forever!" Weiss' voice began to grow louder as her emotions boiled to the surface.

"Getting rid of them so we wouldn't have to live in fear anymore! So things like this would never happen again!" Weiss yelled.

"And how did you plan on doing that?" Adam asked.

"By starting with you!"

"Oh?"

"I-if I got rid of you, I could show your stupid people that we aren't easy targets!"

"Who is we?"

"Me! Us! The Schnee's! My family! The people I love!" Weiss yelled, she was losing her resolve and she felt herself crumbling.

"You think that would scare them? Scare the White Fang into no attacking you anymore?"

"I-I don't know! Yes! No! I don't know!" Weiss yelled, screaming at Adam as she felt tears slide down her cheeks.

_'Damn it! Damn it!'_

"I don't know! I-I-I just wanted to do something! Anything! After what happened to my sister I couldn't stand it anymore I had to do something! I had to fight back! I had to take an ounce of what the White Fang have taken from my family away from you!" Now Weiss seemed to yelling out loud than to Adam.

Moving around, looking around everywhere and bringing her hands to her head as she tried to stitch together her thoughts.

Adam waited patiently as Weiss continued her, what seemed to be a break down.

"All my life, you've just taken from me! From my family! Taken lives, taken resources, trains! Anything and everything! Haunting my dreams and forcing me to look at every dark corner as if there was a monster lurking there. Monsters would haunt me as I slept, hideous beasts with dark, red glowing eyes! They'd stare at me and glare and glare and glare until I'd wake up in fear and tears dampening my pillow. But then those monsters turned into you! People like you! Faunas with masks and claw marks against their back!"

"We did nothing! For years and years we did nothing! What could we do but sit and watch! Sit and watch! Relative after relative, friend after friend, gone! Taken! Killed! For years I sat by and did nothing, and this happens!"

Weiss stopped and looked at Adam, trembling and quivering as her body shook from the overload of emotion.

"This happens and I snap! I need to do something!"

"Do you think killing me will fix any of that?" Adam asked after Weiss had stopped.

Weiss didn't reply, she remained silent as she tried in vain to regain some sense of control over her body.

"If you do, then do it."

* * *

Blake ran around to the other side of the dome. Weiss and Adam had parted but Weiss was blocking her view of Adam so she had to ran around to the side so she could see both of them side on, standing apart from each other.

What were they doing? Why did they stop? What was happening?

"Weiss!" Blake banged once more against the ice, by know her skin had cracked and there was blood smeared against the ice where she hit it.

Blake's mind was in overload, trying to comprehend what was happening. The only solid piece of information she could hold into was that Adam was in danger, everything else about the situation was a haze.

Weiss was in there with him, but Blake didn't really believe she was going to kill him. She wouldn't would she?

"Weiss please! You can't do this!" She slammed again.

She couldn't do this to her! Weiss knew who Adam was to her, she couldn't possibly be doing this! Weiss was her friend! This wasn't right!

It was then that Blake reached a sudden realisation, a dark truth within her that she realised she would hold onto.

If Weiss killed Adam, Blake knew that she would never forgive Weiss, they would never be the same.

* * *

Weiss watched Adam lift his arm's up and wait for her.

Wait, was this it? Was this how it was going to end? With Adam, giving himself up?

"I-I don't understand." Weiss confessed.

"If you think this is what needs to be done, then do it. What's holding you back?"

What was holding her back was banging on the outside of the dome and shouting her name over and over.

Weiss lifted her rapier up and pointed it at Adam's chest. All she needed to do was summon one glyph and it would be over. She didn't even need to have her eyes open.

Blake stepped back in horror as she watched the scene before her. It took her a moment to understand why Adam was lifting his arms up and just standing there and then Weiss lifted her sword up and Blake came to a crushing realisation.

_'No!NONONONONO!' _

Blake stumbled away from the image and ran over back to Yang, who was still trying to get through.

"Yang! Yang you need to get through now!" Blake urged, her heart pounding in her chest.

Blake felt like she was drowning, she couldn't breathe her chest felt heavy, and her arms felt weak. She felt as if she couldn't stand on her feet any longer as she knew what was about to happen but couldn't do anything about it.

"Blake I'm tryin-"

"Yang! Right now! Right, now! She's going to kill him! Yang please!"

Ruby watched her teammate lose it with each passing second. She looked back toward her partner through the ice and wished that what she was seeing wasn't real, but she knew it was.

"Weiss, Weiss you can't do this." Ruby breathed, as tears tingled at the edge of her eyes. "This isn't you, this isn't the person I love."

* * *

Weiss felt as if she was standing there for an eternity, with her arm raised and ready and Adam simply waiting for her.

She had to do it, for her family, she had to do it. It all started here, with this one action Weiss would begin to return her family to safety.

"Yang please!"

Blake's voice reached the heiress and almost every inch of resolve was shattered in an instant. The tone in her voice, the way it cracked and was thick with desperation. The noise bounced around in her head and each time her heart shuddered and she broke a little.

She was going to ruin her life. She was going to crush Blake's heart, she was going to ruin everything they had together. This would be it, the end of their friendship, the end of it all for Blake. All for her family.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Weiss cried out as she sped toward Adam, she couldn't see him because of the tears in her eyes but all she needed to do was go straight.

And go straight she did.

* * *

Blake heard Weiss yell out and the sound of the heiress' shrill call brought everything in Blake's world to a halt. Her eyes went wide as her mind registered the sound, her mouth opened and she thought she was screaming but she couldn't really hear it herself. She turned back to the dome and ran straight toward it, not caring if she couldn't get through, she had to do something.

"Weiss no!" Ruby yelled as she heard her partner cry out.

Blake reached the dome, everything was still a haze. A thick, cloudy haze covered her entire being as she ran. She didn't realise the dome had collapsed until she could clearly see the two figures before her.

The sound of crashing ice reached her and she fell to her knees as she stepped through.

"WEEEEEISSSSS!"

Blake's voice was shrill and high as she yelled out at her teammate.

But Weiss was the one on the floor, not Adam. She was slumped on her knees a few inched before his feet, her rapier was lying a few meters from her and her head was held low against her chest. Her shoulders jerking up and down as she sobbed quietly.

Ruby watched on with wide eyes as her partner broke in front of who was supposed to be their enemy.

Weiss just looked down at the ground repeating the same phrase over and over.

"I can't. I can't do it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't do it."

When Blake finally realised what she was looking at she was more than surprised. She wasn't sure whether she should relieved in case it was too early to say it was over. But by the look of her teammate, it didn't seem the heiress was going to make any more moves.

"Weiss?"

Ruby and Winter were by Weiss' side in an instant, ignoring Adam as he remained standing in his spot, watching it all unfold in front of him.

"Weiss, Weiss it's okay." Ruby cooed as she wrapped her arms around her partner.

Weiss continued to repeat the same thing over and over even after she leaned forward to cry against Ruby's shoulder. Ruby held her tight as she felt the fragile body in her arms shudder with every breath, soothing with soft reassurances and enveloping her in her warmth.

"It's okay Weiss. It's okay."

Winter looked up at Adam and the faunas looked back down at the young Schnee.

"Your sister is either very weak, or very strong. It just depends on what side you look at it from."

Winter wasn't entirely sure what he meant but what confused her more was that he wasn't showing any hostility to her, he simply turned around and started walking away.

"If you look at it from my side, she was weak, but I wish she had been strong." He said over his shoulder before continuing on.

"Adam. Adam wait!" Blake called out to the faunas as he began walking away.

Yang was holding onto her as she called out to him and now she turned to her as if to ask for her blessing to go after him. Yang's response was to let go of Blake and watch as she chased after the faunas.

"Adam stop! Please! What the hell just happened?"

"I wouldn't have a clue, why don't you ask her yourself."

"I don't want to speak to her now, I want to speak to you."

"Blake please, I know what you're going to say."

"Adam! Adam why did you just let her do that? Did you know she was going to stop?"

"No I didn't. I was hoping she wouldn't."

"What?!" Blake cried alarmed, "Why? Why would you want that? Do you want to die?!"

"Yes Blake! Maybe that's just it! Maybe I want to die! To leave this stupid world and go anywhere else!"

Blake shrank back a little as Adam yelled at her. "But why?"

"Because Blake! What else is there for me? What other option do I have?!"

"Option? I don't understand what do you mean?"

"I can't leave the White Fang Blake! I can't. There's nowhere else for me, nowhere I can go. If I leave they'll never let me go anyway, I'll just become a fugitive to them. Unlike you I don't have someone to cover up my tracks."

Blake blinked, "You want to leave the White Fang?"

"I-I don't know."

"But you wanted to let Weiss kill you?!" Blake yelled again.

"Blake tell me what to do? Give me a place to go! Give me anywhere to go and I'll take it!" Adam yelled back.

"Come with me!"

"How will that help?! Then you'll just become a target."

"W-We'll figure something out."

"Blake just face it, I'm a lost cause. I'm gone."

"No! No I refuse, I can bring you back, you just need to take my hand!"

"No Blake! No! I can't put you in danger like that."

"Adam it wouldn't be the first time! Please just come with me. Please Adam! Please!"

Blake grabbed his hand and held onto it, looking into the slits in his mask, wishing she could see his eyes.

"Please Adam."

"I can't Blake. I'm sorry."

Blake felt his hand slowly slip out of her grasp, and she watched as he turned and walked away from her. Why had it come to this? After everything they went through, after all she had done to reach him, he was just going to leave her like she left him once. How ironic.

* * *

**A/N: So?**


	27. What am I?

**A/N: A bit of, resolving, tying loose ends and the such**

* * *

"Is all this finally over?"

Yang whispered into Blake's furry ears as she rested on her chest in her bed as Yang twirled her hair gently. Yang knew Blake didn't want to her the question but Yang wanted to hear her say it.

Blake hummed and Yang felt her head move up and down against her chest.

"Yes. I think so." She sighed, Yang thought she sounded almost saddened by it.

"Blake?" Yang whispered, looking down at her partner.

Blake looked up and met Yang's questioning gaze and it took her a second to realise why Yang was looking at her funny. Blake sighed and then rested her head back against Yang's warm chest facing the wall.

"I can't just forget about him." Blake explained quietly.

Yang paused her twirling for a moment until it dawned on her that Blake was referring to Adam and then Yang continued twirling Blake's hair.

"I didn't say you had to." Yang replied.

"I know, I know, but it's just…" Blake trailed off as she was lost in her thoughts.

"You didn't want to lose him?" Yang filled in.

After a short silence she heard Blake's voice, "Yeah."

Opposite them a situation had occurred that seemed the exact opposite of what would usually happen.

Ruby was in bed with Weiss, except in this instant Weiss was the one scrunched up to Ruby and Ruby was the one staring up at the underside of her bed, letting Weiss hold onto her tightly while her face scrunched up and a sniffle escaped her nose every now and then.

Weiss had all but broke down after what had happened. She had remained in Ruby's grasp, kneeling on the ground for what seemed like hours on end and when Ruby finally got her to get up she had almost collapsed again hadn't Ruby been holding her.

Weiss had only stopped muttering the same phrases, "I'm sorry" and "I couldn't do it", when they entered their transport back home. She didn't stop crying until she fell asleep covered by Ruby's warming presence.

The whole time Ruby was forced to sit by and watch her partner lose herself in her thoughts, drown it whatever guilt she was feeling. Ruby tried to talk to her, tried to get her to stop crying, to do anything so that Ruby's heart wouldn't ache with every shaky breath she heard from the heiress. But Weiss just wouldn't budge and it worried Ruby so much.

Which was what kept her awake.

She was too worried that Weiss may never wake up to herself, that she may never leave whatever dark place she had entered. She was worried that she was going to lose her, lose that bright sparkle in those brilliant blue eyes.

Nobody had said anything to her, except Winter of course. Yang had asked if she was 'okay' but Ruby didn't really have an answer to that. Blake had offered a sympathetic look, but other than that she didn't say anything. Ruby didn't blame her, how could she? Even Ruby was shocked at what Weiss had done, but nobody knew what was going through her mind.

"How's Weiss?" Blake asked Yang softly, keeping her face toward the wall.

Yang looked to her side and found her sister staring blankly up at the bunk above her, Weiss pained expression just visible above Ruby's chest.

"She's asleep." Yang replied.

"And Ruby?"

Yang sighed, "Not so asleep."

Blake turned over and looked over at the red head, Ruby noticed the faunas turning to her and meet her gaze. Blake sighed another time and sat up from Yang's body.

"I'm sorry." Blake breathed.

"Sorry? For what?" Weiss shifted by her side and Ruby moved her hand around to rest gently against the heiress' head, calmly running her fingers through the heiress' fine hair.

"For everything." Blake explained.

"Blake." Yang called reaching out to brush her hand through Blake's hair.

"I know, I know, but just let me say it."

"I forgive you Blake, its fine." Ruby said with a smile.

"How's Weiss?" Blake asked.

"She's uh, she's…." Ruby trailed off as she looked down at her partner. "I really don't know."

I brief silence fell over them as they all looked over at their white haired teammate.

"I don't what she was thinking, she would have never done something like that. It's not like her."

* * *

At some point during the night, probably late in the night, Ruby had finally fallen asleep having watched Blake and Yang slowly drift off themselves, Blake resting against Yang. Winter hadn't uttered a word the whole night so Ruby just assumed she was asleep. But one moment Ruby had been staring at Weiss and the next she was groggily opening her eyes as the sun poured in through the window.

Ruby groaned and shifted her head as the light abruptly pulled her from her slumber, rubbing her eyes open she turned and found Weiss waking up too.

"Good morning." Ruby greeted softly.

Weiss remained silent and simply buried her face into Ruby's side.

"Weiss."

Yang's loud yawn filled the air as she stretched her arms out in front of her, smacking her lips together as she sat up. Blake was still waking up as Yang got up and almost slipped off Yang's chest as she was still half asleep when her world was suddenly lifted upwards.

Blake groaned angrily and her ears flicked in irritation as she sat herself up and rubbed her eyes open before pouting at her blonde haired partner.

"Good morning Blakey!" Yang greeted with a bright smile as sunny as the sun outside the window, completely ignoring Blake's irritated expression.

"Since when are you a morning person?" Blake asked crankily.

"I don't know…"

Ruby couldn't help but smile at the exchange, it was moment like this she was beyond grateful that these were the people in her team, in her life. That they could go through hell and back and then make her smile the next instant, especially Yang, she made it so seem so easy to bounce back and smile, she was just always smiling.

But unfortunately Ruby turned back to her partner and her smile faded without hesitation.

"Weiss, are you going to say something? Anything?"

Weiss silently stared up at her partner before shifting her gaze and looking out the window.

"Weiss please, I just need to know you're okay."

"Ruby, I don't think I am."

Ruby stared at the top of Weiss' head for a moment, thinking long and hard about what she should say next.

"Why?"

Weiss sniffled and Ruby was afraid she would break down again.

"What did I do Ruby? What was I thinking?" Ruby could hear Weiss' voice crack and could see the pain in her eyes even though she was turned away from her.

Ruby remained silent, sensing that Weiss wasn't finished.

"I-I lost myself. What was I doing? I-I was so blind, I was lost."

"Weiss-"

"I wanted to kill him, I wanted, revenge? Is that what it was, revenge? I just wanted to do something! After everything the White Fang has done, I just wanted to do something."

Weiss trailed off, thumping her fist into the bed sheets next to Ruby.

"But I couldn't, because of her." Weiss turned to look at Blake, who turned from her conversation with Yang to look at her.

"I had all the intention in the world to run my blade through his chest, but I couldn't do it because I couldn't shatter her heart. I was completely willing to accept her reaction, whatever it was, but in the end I couldn't do it!"

Weiss started crying.

"She wanted apologise to me! When I was planning to kill the person she loved!"

Blake watched her teammate in silence as the heiress turned back to face to Ruby.

"Ruby what am I!"

"Weiss I-"

"What does that make me?!"

"Weiss Schnee, team member of team RWBY, partner to Ruby Rose and our sister, of course not our _real _sister, just symbolically."

Weiss turned and faced Blake as she easily released the string of titles and names.

"Why who did you think you were?" Blake added.

"I-I. Blake I-I was going to-"

"I know what you _wanted _to do, but the fact you didn't, is more than enough for me to trust you."

"But-"

"Weiss, with all due respect, wouldn't it be easier for us to just forget about all this? For all of our sakes. I don't care what you _tried _to do, what you _wanted _to do, I care about what you _did _do, and what you did was have a fight with someone who was attacking you, who also happened to be someone I know."

Everyone watched in silence as Blake continued to shock Weiss with every word.

"I'm sorry for what you've gone through, I know it's not much consolation but I still feel somewhat responsible, and I promise you that one day I'll do what I can to stop the White Fang."

"Weiss?" Ruby called after a few seconds of silence.

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked Blake.

"Yes Weiss I'm sure." Blake replied with a smile. Blake got up and walked over to hold Weiss' hands. "Weiss please, I just, want all of this heartache to end."

Weiss looked at her teammate for a short moment before her head slowly started to nod up and down.

"I'm sorry Blake. I'm so sorry."

Blake watched as her teammates eyes scrunched up and started glistening as tears rolled free and she leaned forward into Blake's stomach. Blake was a little stunned and she hesitated, looking over at Ruby before moving to bring her arms around Weiss' shoulders.

"It's okay Weiss. It's okay."

Ruby watched her partner and her teammate hold each other and couldn't help but feel her own eyes tingle as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. But not tears of pain that had been shed for far too long, but tears of joy and happiness. The scene before was just another reason why she loved the people in the room, because at somehow, in some way, when it felt as if they would lose someone, they always came back.

"Hey Weiss?" Blake called after a minute or two.

"Yeah?"

Blake pulled back and a devilish smile spread across her face, Weiss frowned back at the faunas.

"What?"

"I want a rematch."

* * *

**A/N: Thoughts? Pls?**


	28. Two pairs of ears

**A/N: This story is not finished until all the questions have been answered, trust me.**

* * *

She looked around herself, taking in her surroundings. She was lying on her back, a pillow resting underneath her head and all around her she found wooden bars. She reached out with her small stubby limps toward the ceiling and a cute gurgling sound left her throat.

As if on cue a strange pair of yellow ears entered her vision. She turned to look at them and found a head to be attached to them, a head of yellow hair and the person it belonged to was smiling broadly as she looked down at her. Her ears flickered and she gurgled another time with a laugh as the ears seemed to bring her great enjoyment and happiness.

* * *

Now she was in a pram being pushed around through a park. All the sounds and smells and sights were all alien to her and for a moment it frightened her, until those same pair of ears found her and she was told not to be afraid and that she was going to be safe. She didn't really understand, but she knew when she could see those ears everything would be fine, and it made her happy.

* * *

She was walking now, finally she could walk on her own and now she was walking everywhere! Through the kitchen, the lounge room, the dining room, the bathroom, everywhere! All the while those pairs of ears were following close behind, watching over her. Unfortunately her journey came to an end once she reached the stairs, she came to a halt at the foot of the stair and looked at them with her head cocked to the side.

She turned back to her guardian behind her who offered her a warm smile and bent over to come pick her up. But she swatted her hand away and turned back to the stairs, she was going to walk up them, on her own. She got halfway before she tripped and fell over and before she even registered she had fallen over she was scooped up and was gently being ushered and comforted. It was such a shock that she forgot to even cry, but she was just thankful she got to be so close to those two furry ears.

* * *

She couldn't find her, she walked around the whole house, even went up and down the stairs at least three times looking for her. She wasn't watching tv, wasn't eating in the kitchen and wasn't in the bathroom. She had checked all the bedrooms but couldn't find her there either. When she asked her parents, they didn't know as well. So she continued her search.

It was that day she first noticed the man whole that led to their roof. She wasn't exactly tall so most of her eyesight was based around ground level, it was only when she could find who she was looking for on the ground that she decided to look up. So when she found the small door up against the ceiling, she frowned at it and wondered what a door was doing up there. Surely it was dumb to have a door that high. But then she saw that it was open just a little and immediately became determined to get up there. If someone had done it, so could she.

Luckily, there was a ladder there for her already.

She climbed in and stood up, taking in her surroundings. There was a window at the other end and it was letting in the sunlight and basked the room in a warm, dusty glow, the rays of light showing off the enormous amounts of dust floating in the air. As if on cue she scrunched her nose up as it tingled before sneezing, in a way everyone found adorable.

Once she recovered and looked back up her ears flickered as she heard the creak of a wooden board followed by a soft sniffle. She walked around and found the source of the noise not so far from her, just around the corner, balled up in a ball crying softly.

She quickly recognised the two yellow pairs of ears, lying flat against her head. So this was where she was.

She moved toward her and called out her name, but received no response. When she was standing in front of her she was wondering what was going on before something wavy caught her eye. She turned toward it and was surprised to find a yellow tail resting against the wooden floor boards, that was new.

The fur on the tail looked odd, besides it being a new thing that she had never known about, the fur looked all ragged and distraught as if it had been handled badly. The small cut and resulting blood stain only strengthened the assumption.

She called the girls name again, this time a little more urgently and nudged her to get her attention. Slowly the girl lifted her face to meet her gaze and she was horrified to find her face bruised and bleeding. She couldn't help but scream at the sight, it was something new to her, something she quickly decided she didn't like. She was still very young and didn't quite understand what it was but knew it was definitely not good.

She was being told to shush and be quite but it was too late because soon her dad was in the room and was just as shocked as she was.

* * *

It had been two days since she last saw those ears. She wasn't sure why but she already missed them so much. She looked for her again, even checked the attic, but she wasn't here, she wasn't anywhere. Her parent had been crying for just as long as she was missing them, she didn't know why they were crying but every time she called out the name, probably the only word she could say properly besides mummy and daddy, her parents started crying louder.

It was very strange and she wanted it to stop, but she wanted to find those ears again as well.

After the fourth day it became evident she wasn't going to find them, so she started crying.

The fifth day she asked her parents and they yelled at her, so she started crying again.

The next week she stayed in her room, believing that she would one day wake up and she's be there sleeping next to her, but by the end of the week she realised it was never going to happen.

After that she truly became depressed, realising that she was somehow gone forever and was never coming back, where she was gone she didn't know, all she knew is that she would never see those ears again.

Seventeen years later, and she had completely forgotten that she had even ever had those ears in her life.

* * *

**A/N: If this confused you, good. It's supposed to lol.**


	29. All is good

**A/N: What even is this? Because I have no clue! I was writing things, and then I was writing these things instead of the other things. Woah what have I done.**

* * *

A few days had passed since Blake issued her challenge and accepted Weiss' apology and for the most part it seemed things were slowly getting back to normal. They had managed to attend a full three days of classes without interruption and Kage hadn't made an appearance either.

Whether or not that meant he was gone was a whole other story.

Winter had remained in their company, Weiss insisted she stay a little longer and if Winter was to be honest she was loving her time with her sister at Beacon and if anyone was to ask Ruby she'd agree with Weiss and tell Winter to stay, although Weiss knew the red head had an alternate motive for getting Winter to stay, one that involved sharing a bed.

Weiss wasn't complaining, although it was hard to admit it she enjoyed having Ruby so close so often. It made her feel relaxed and warm and just genuinely happy and Ruby had made an effort to point out every time she found a peaceful smile spread across the heiress' lips as they slept.

In comparison, to Ruby and Weiss' smile, for Yang it was the soft purr's that rumbled through Blake's throat every so often. The first few times the rest of them found it funny, forcing themselves to hide their giggles and chuckles just as Blake's ears pricked up and she angrily opened her eyes. But after that it became adorable and every time it was heard Yang would just smile and Blake would nudge closer to Yang as she felt the warmth inside her perk up.

Life being connected to one another was not so bad after all. Of course Yang kept up to her irritating tricks, but that was just Yang. The blonde had found out that if she flared her aura enough it made Blake blush and cause the faunas to become embarrassed and turn away, no matter what situation they were in. So of course one time in Professor Oobleck's class, Yang decided to give it a try and resulted in Blake shoving her head into her arms on her desk, which drew more attention to the faunas as the desk thudded loudly and drew the attention of the teacher.

"Miss Belladonna! Are you alright dear?"

Yang struggled to keep her laughter under control as she was seated beside her partner and Oobleck shot her a look but the blonde found it extremely hard to stop herself from banging the desk lightly in amusement. Even when Blake looked up and turned to her partner with her eyes narrowed and those amber eyes burning holes into her partners body, Yang couldn't help but laugh louder.

Upon seeing the glare Yang let out an "Oh shit." She knew she was in trouble, but it was just too funny.

Blake hated when Yang did it when they were with other people, she didn't mind it when they were alone, she just hated being embarrassed in front of other people. If she could stop herself from blushing she would, but she couldn't and she was luckily she wasn't purring too. It was just that the way it made Blake feel was so good.

It was strange but it just warmed her up like a thick blanket in the winter and made her feel all squishy and squirmy. When she thought about it she really did want to purr.

It was after that incident that Blake decided to fight back.

As they sat in one of Professor Port's classes, sitting in silence as he rambled on about some strange story, Blake decided to raise her own aura without warning. She didn't know how Yang would react, she had never tried it before, as long as it humiliated her partner she was fine with it.

At first it seemed like nothing was happening and Blake was beginning to feel a little dejected, when Yang suddenly tipped her body forward before shooting back up in her seat. Blake looked over at the blonde and watched her eye lids droopily fall over her lilac eyes before shooting open and then slowly closing again as she tipped forward.

Blake watched her partner tip all the way forward until her forehead hit the desk with a solid, 'thunk', at which point a short snort erupted from her throat as she stifled a laugh.

"Yang? Yang?" Blake nudged her gently.

Yang mumbled something and rolled her head to the side.

"Yang?"

"Mmm?" Yang hummed blissfully.

Blake's eyes rose as her partner smiled and appeared to try and nuzzle her pencil case.

_'What is happening?'_

"Uh, Yang? I think you should get up."

"I can't." Yang breathed happily.

"Uhm, why not?"

"This is too…good" Yang replied.

Blake was amazed she was able to form a response with the amount of bliss she seemed to be experiencing.

Blake drew back her aura just as Professor Port approached their desk.

"Miss Xiao Long!"

Yang shot up in her seat, looking around in confusion.

"Sleeping in class are we?"

"Uh-wha-what? I am? I was?"

"Lovely! See you after class!"

"What?!"

Yang looked down the row at the rest of her teammates, only to find her sister snickering like the child she was, Weiss was looking forwards trying, and failing miserably, to hide a smile and when she looked at Blake the faunas quickly turned away and pretended to be writing something down.

It wasn't until they were in their dorm that afternoon, on their own, that Blake brought it up.

"So, what exactly happened to you this morning?" Blake asked carefully.

"Well apparently I went to sleep didn't I?" Yang replied angrily.

"From what I saw it seemed a lot better than sleeping."

"You got that right." Yang mumbled and quickly looked up at her partner as she realised she spoke out loud.

"Yang?"

"What? _You_ did it to me!"

"Well I didn't know _that_ would happen!"

"That? What do you mean that?"

Blake waved her arms at Yang, "_That._"

It took Yang but a moment to understand what Blake was implying.

"Aww! Blake!"

"What!?"

"C'mon it was nothing like that!"

"Why are you being so defensive about it, you're the pervert in this team anyway!"

"I'm not a pervert! My boundaries just aren't so restricted like everyone else's." Yang explained. "Besides, it was nothing like that, for your information. I was just, very, very, relaxed." A small smile tugged at her lips at the memory.

"Relaxed?" Blake repeated with a sceptical look.

"Yes Blake _relaxed_. Besides, I've got news for you, if you think getting my like _that, _would be so easy, you're wrong." Yang explained.

"Oh is that right? Maybe I've got some tricks up my sleeve." Blake replied, glancing over her shoulder at Yang as she walked into the bathroom.

"She calls _me_ perverted." Yang mumbled.

"Heard that!"

* * *

"I'm just saying, if you can go that fast on your own I don't see why going with me should be such a problem."

"Because Ruby, I don't like being manhandled."

"Manhandled?! I don't manhandle you!"

"What do you call lifting me off the ground without warning, _or _permission?"

"I call it being in a hurry."

"Of course you do." Weiss said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes.

"I just think if you didn't struggle so much we wouldn't fall over so often." Ruby stated.

"So now it's my fault?!"

"Well-"

"Nobody said you had to pick me up."

"Yeah but if I didn't we would have been late."

"Ruby we _were _late."

"Because you made us fall!"

"It was not my fault. If you insist on moving me around like so often perhaps you should get better at it. Maybe then we wouldn't fall over."

"I wouldn't need to if you weren't so slow." Ruby replied, immediately regretting her decision.

"Slow?" Weiss repeated, turning to face Ruby.

"Did I say slow? I didn't mean to say slow, I meant to say uhh…" Unfortunately for Ruby not many words that sounded like slow came to mind.

"I'll have you know I'm the least bit slow. In fact I doubt I'm that far behind you anyway." Weiss replied proudly.

Ruby watched the heiress fold her arms sharply and lift her chin up. "Was that a challenge?"

"I wouldn't know, was it?" Weiss taunted.

A few minutes later

"First one past the fountain wins." Ruby stated, pointing toward the fountain a few meters from their current position, Ruby guessed it was about fifty meters or so, seeing as they were still standing in the doorway for the building.

Students walking past shot them confused glances and Weiss had to force herself to ignore them as she readied herself to win, she just hoped none of the teachers walked past.

"Whatchya doooin!" Nora sung, twirling over to them with Ren following behind.

"Oh hey Nora."

"Hullo!" Nora replied.

"What are you two to?" Ren asked once he caught up.

"I'm going to blow Weiss out of the water!" Ruby answered.

"Water?" Nora puzzled. "Oh are we playing pirates!?" She asked gleefully.

"No Nora, we are not." Weiss stated.

"Aww." Nora's smile faded but only for a mere second. "Ren can _we _play pirates?"

"No."

"Hey!" Nora winged.

"Can you count us down?" Ruby asked, "Weiss thinks she's as fast as me and I need to prove her wrong."

"Oooo a race! Cool!" Nora cheered. "I'll count you down!"

Nora strolled in between the two partners and Weiss looked at her suspiciously as she grinned at them both. Weiss looked over at Ren and found him to be shaking his head with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

_'Been there, done that.' _Weiss thought.

"Three!"

Weiss turned back around and summoned a glyph beneath her feet while Ruby crouched low and readied herself.

"Two!"

They looked at each other and Ruby stuck her tongue out at her partner. Weiss scoffed and shook her head turning back to face the front.

"One go!"

BOOM!

Nora spun around as two massive rushed of air raced past her in an instant, the sound of the air rushing in to fill two sudden empty spaces booming loudly, causing student to turn and look around.

"WHEEEEE!" Nora spun as roses and snowflakes floated around her. "Snowflakes!? Is it snowing!?" Nora squealed.

"No Nora. C'mon, we're going to be late." Ren said, ushering her along.

"Aww but I wanna see who wins." Nora complained.

"So do I, but we have a class to get to."

"Aw fine."

Ruby knew she was going to win. Of course she would she was the fastest girl in town, there was no way she could lose. Perhaps if Weiss had put on that white cloak she asked her to keep in their closest she would have tied, but unfortunately Weiss was too proud to ask for help.

"See I told you I was-"

"Aaaaaa!"

Ruby spun around to rub it in once she reached the end of the race but Weiss didn't stop like she was supposed to, instead she continued onward with enormous speed, leaving Ruby a little confused.

Ruby quickly turned around to find Weiss still moving forward toward the trees in front of her, and she didn't seem to be slowing down.

"Uh oh!"

Ruby moved as fast as she could, she was faster than Weiss she just proved it, but she didn't know if she was fast enough to catch up to Weiss before she hit the trees but she was going to find out soon.

"Weiss! Oof!"

Ruby managed to get in front of the heiress' but instead of coming to a stop like Ruby had hoped for, Ruby ended up moving along with heiress.

"Weiss what the hell! Is this like, some sort of revenge for always doing this to you!?" Ruby yelled.

"What! No of course not!"

"Tree!" Ruby yelled.

Ruby heard a ringing noise just before impact and then suddenly found herself lying on the ground next to Weiss with a thick layer of snow covering them.

"Air bags huh?" Ruby breathed, smiling at her own joke.

"Haha." Weiss replied sarcastically, getting out of the snow.

"Hey where're you going?" Ruby quickly grabbed her partners hand.

"What do you mean?" Weiss replied, surprised that she was surprised that Ruby asked that sort of question. Weiss was always amazed how Ruby managed to easily turn any situation around from something disastrous into something amazing and possibly unforgettable.

"I mean stay here for a bit." Ruby explained.

"In the snow?" Weiss asked again.

"Yes."

"You'll catch a cold." Weiss stated.

"Weiss you're my girlfriend, if I was going to catch a cold I would have done that ages ago." Ruby replied with a grin.

"That's a bit cruel." Weiss replied with a sour expression.

"Aww c'mon you know I don't mean it! Just sit with me for a bit, we don't have any more classes and the sun is about to set." Ruby pleaded.

Weiss thought it over for a moment before giving in to Ruby's pleading eyes and sat back down next to her partner in the small pile of snow. Ruby threaded her arm through Weiss' and leaned her head against her shoulder and they sat there in silence for a moment.

"You know I won right?" Ruby stated.

"Ruby!"

"What? I'm just saying." Ruby mumbled.

After another short silence Weiss spoke up. "You sure you're not cold?"

"Weiss I'm fine." Ruby reassured her partner. "The ice you make doesn't make me cold anyway."

"Don't be ridiculous." Weiss said with a smile.

"No I'm serious." Ruby stated. "I always found it strange that it never made me cold. Maybe it's kinda like how people thought you were cold and I never did." Ruby stated.

"It really doesn't make you cold?" Weiss asked carefully.

"Well why should it if it came from you?" Ruby said simply looking Weiss in the eye.

Weiss stared off into the distance for a moment as she took in Ruby's words.

"Thank you Ruby."

"For what?" Ruby asked.

"Everything. For staying by my side this whole time. For never giving up on me or leaving. For just being you."

"Well the last one was easy, as for the other two I wouldn't want it any other way Weiss. Like I tell you almost all the time I-"

"Love you." Weiss beat her to it.

Ruby paused for a moment before Weiss smiled at her and then felt her own smile reach her lips.

"I love you too Weiss."

Ruby lifted her head up and brought her lips up to Weiss' and kissed her softly, pulling back only to see Weiss' smile before moving in again for another quick kiss. Ruby returned her head back to Weiss' shoulder and they sat in silence for a little longer, watching the sky slowly change colours, from pale blue, to bright orange and finally a warm pinky hue.

"Do you think there's enough snow here for a snowman?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed and flicked her wrist. Ruby opened her mouth to say something before a pile of snow fell on top of her.

"There is now." Weiss replied between laughs.

* * *

**A/N: Okay the rematch be next chapter kay?**


	30. Now the fight is over

**A/N: So I hope you enjoy this...**

* * *

"I'm surprised you two want another go at each other." Goodwitch stated as she tapped away at her tablet.

The two girls on stage remained silent and simply smiled at each other. Nobody was complaining really, sure some of the students had wished to be fighting themselves but this wasn't a bad trade off. To watch Weiss and Blake fight against each other for another time, perhaps this fight would be better than the last.

For the two girls they were waiting anxiously for this day to come. Since Blake had challenged Weiss they both had to wait for their next sparring lesson with Goodwitch, which was unfortunately in four days' time, during which they either tried to distract themselves with either school work or their partners, or wasted time training themselves.

It was all very humorous to watch from Ruby and Yang's view point. They had never seen their partners so nervous about something. They were never shy of a fight, but this wasn't any regular fight, this was a rematch, they had their reputation and possibly even their humility on the line.

Blake was the challenger and Weiss was the champion who had to uphold her title.

Although to be fair there were instances where they had pushed the thoughts of the battle completely from their minds. Those time's being the more, intimate times with their partners, or the more distracting times with team JNPR, either way nobody regrated any of those instances, just ask the big broad smiles on their faces afterward.

"Ladies you know the rules." Goodwitch spoke, setting the countdown.

Weiss and Blake nodded in acknowledgment, shifting on their feet in anticipation.

"On the buzzer." Goodwitch stepped back as the protective field was raised and separated the students from the combatants.

3

This was all very familiar, it was only a couple of days ago that they were both in this same situation, although Weiss had to admit now she was having very different thoughts.

2

_'Well, here we go.'_

1

0

The buzzer sounded and most of the students were expecting a loud clash of swords right after the buzzer reverberated through the room. But instead, rather anti climatic, the buzzer died down and the two girls remained separated, looking over each other as they slowly circled around.

"They're taking it slower this time." Someone commented.

"It's not a bad idea." His friend replied.

On the stage Weiss and Blake were eyeing each other carefully, both trying to read their respective opponents. They had known each other for two years now which was a lot of time for them to get to know each other, as well as their fighting styles and most of their strengths and weaknesses.

So Blake was thinking she should make a move and get in close as quick as possible, keep Weiss as close to her as she could and try not to let her create distance between them and give her room to use her dust.

Blake wasn't underestimating Weiss' ability, no not at all. She was merely acknowledging the fact that in close quarters Blake had the advantage over Weiss. The heiress was indeed a wonderful fencer, her strikes were amazingly fast and precise, she was highly efficient in executing attacks with the minimal amount of effort, maximising output while minimising input.

But under pressure, her small stature and build caused her to thin out quite fast and forced her to back off and fall to using her glyphs and dust. Once that happened Blake knew she would find it much harder to get in some good hits.

So without warning Blake broke into a charge and rushed the fencer, running at her at full speed with her hand on the hilt of her sword at her back. Weiss readied herself for the attack and almost failed to stop Blake's attack when the faunas drew her blade from her back and spun around, using a clone to leap into the air over the heiress.

Weiss stopped the first swipe but she had almost missed Blake when a clone took her place and she was in the air above her. Weiss stumbled away as Blake come down on her, sparks flying across their swords. Blake kept the pressure on Weiss and used another clone to quickly close the gap between them, lashing out at the heiress with Gamboul Shroud.

Weiss kept up but she already felt her wrist being jarred by Blake's powerful attacks. She could keep up with the faunas, but Weiss was unfortunately, physically, the weakest member of her team and Blake was the second _strongest_, so this wasn't an ideal situation for the heiress. Her rapier continued to be knocked around against her will and she quickly assessed the situation and realised she had to get some distance.

Before executing yet another slash at Weiss' form, Gamboul Shroud passed under Blake's free hand and she unsheathed the sheath portion of her weapon whilst the katana continued on in her right hand. The katana clashed against Weiss' rapier and Blake swung her left arm around in a wide arc, the cleaver held in reverse as it came swinging toward Weiss.

Weiss saw the attack at the last second and forced her weapon back up in front of her right after it was knocked to the side. The cleaver hit her and largely ignored her rapier as the force Blake put behind the attack ploughed through most of her defence and sent her into a spin.

Weiss moved with the momentum and used it to spin around and put a little distance between her and the faunas, as soon as she was facing Blake again, a quick flick of her wrist had her leaping away from her, leaving a glyph in her presence.

Blake cursed inwardly as her opponent found their window and leapt away, leaving a small gift behind. Blake stopped herself from rushing forward just in time to summon a clone to push her backwards as the glyph in front of her burst in a plume of fire.

Blake rushed through the ball of smoke, intent on making sure the distance between her and Weiss remained at a minimum of a hundred centimetres. But when Blake made it through the smoke she couldn't find Weiss anywhere in front of her.

Now most people hardly ever think to look up, but Blake was not one of those people.

Blake threw her head up just as Weiss shot down toward her from the roof. Blake wasted no time summoning a clone to move her away from her position and out from underneath the heiress.

But Weiss knew Blake quite well, if she was to be asked, so of course she expected her teammate to easily dodge the attack, so Weiss _didn't _attack. Instead of slamming her rapier into the ground like she usually would, before she hit the ground a glyph appeared beneath her and had her gliding along the ground toward Blake just as she leaped away.

Weiss spun anti-clockwise as she reached Blake and quickly felt Myrtenaster running along Gamboul Shrouds katana. But as soon as she did she was moving her rapier again in those rapid, precise strikes she was more than capable of accomplishing. Now Blake was at a disadvantage, surprised by Weiss' fake she was barely keeping up to the heiress' attacks and it didn't take long for Weiss to find and opening in Blake's defence and thrust her arm out as the tip of her blade successfully contacted Blake's aura.

Blake stumbled back, yet no matter how much it stung she was already moving back toward Weiss. The heiress was a little surprised that her opponent was coming back to her so quickly but she found safety in her glyphs as she soared back away from her opponent.

Blake gritted her teeth as Weiss increased the distance between them once again, but this time she wouldn't be fooled. Instead of leaping backwards away from the glyph Weiss left behind, a clone had her flipping over it as it ignited below her.

Weiss watched as Blake touched the ground unharmed and swung her arm out as if she was throwing something. It took Weiss a moment too long to recognise the object as Blake's scythe, she felt the sting across her chest before she could even see the blade.

Blake felt the impact through the ribbon and had it swinging around back toward the heiress, this time Weiss managed to see it coming and leaned backward as quick as she could to dodge the weapon. Weiss quickly summoned another glyph before the scythe came back around and she knocked it away with her rapier.

Blake was forced to bring her scythe back to her as the glyph Weiss summoned started shooting ice at her. Her katana quickly coming up in front of her to deflect the projectiles. Surprisingly what was behind the last projectile was Weiss herself and it was surprising because if Blake was Weiss she would want to keep the distance between them and it wasn't long before Blake understood what Weiss was doing.

As soon as Blake started her counter attack she found her arm to be frozen within a black glyph, turning slowly as if to mock her. Blake tried to pull her arm free, everyone always did, and Weiss found herself smiling at her teammate. But her smile quickly faded as she readied herself to deliver another blow.

Both their aura readings were resting just within the yellow, about a fifth gone from each.

Weiss' dust canister spun around quickly and the spark dust was just as quickly ejected and crackling along her rapier.

Blake paused to watch as Weiss' blade sparked with electricity and immediately her mind was working to try and find a way out of her predicament. She quickly went to her pouch and searched around for a magazine.

Blake managed to move her fingers to eject the magazine currently occupying her pistols chamber. It clattered to the floor and she slammed the replacement magazine home just as Weiss fired the bolt of electricity towards her.

Weiss was sure the attack was going to hit and at least drop Blake's aura past half way, but instead of the bolt hitting the faunas it hit a rocky version of her, causing the clone to crackle and crumble. Weiss' distraction may have been what allowed Blake to pull her arm free and rush toward her.

Weiss quickly realised Blake was using the dust rounds she had supplied her with and now she really had to keep her distance.

Weiss formed another glyph as Blake rushed toward, except this glyph quickly solidified as Weiss turned it into a frozen disc, which with a flick of her wrist, was sent spinning through the air toward Blake. Blake almost missed the object spinning toward her as it was so thin and almost vanished from sight as it flew horizontally, luckily for her she didn't miss it and sent an equally solid clone out in front of her to meet it.

The clone appeared on its knees with its sword held up in front of it and the disc shattered against its rocky blade, Blake ran up to it and used its shoulder to leap over it and continued onward without losing speed. But what Blake hadn't noticed was that Weiss had spun around, with burn dust spewing from her canister and brought her rapier down in a wide arc as a streak of fire rushed toward her.

Blake felt the heat against her arms and flew backwards, she fell to her knees sliding backwards as her heels shot off sparks behind her against the tiles. She looked up and it seemed Weiss was intent on remaining as far away from her as possible, it was a smart decision, but Blake wasn't having any of it, especially since she now had her dust infused clones to work with.

A small smile reached Blake's lips as she summoned another clone, Weiss wondered why the faunas was smiling before said clone shot toward her like a spark of electricity and slammed into her chest and sent her flying backwards, her muscles convulsing as the electricity coursed through her body.

Blake rushed forward, taking a quick glance toward the aura readings and finding that were both almost equally within the yellow range, Blake knew she could end this in one blow. She rushed toward the heiress who was still yet to recover, she brought both portions of her weapon back together and felt Gamboul Shroud vibrate lightly as she called upon the dust within its magazine.

Weiss was well aware that this battle could end in one blow, and currently Blake was coming toward her and could very well perform the blow. But Weiss was definitely not going down without pulling out all the stops. As she spun her canister and imbued her blade with the dust, she found it amusing that she had used this very same dust, in the very same way when she fought that knight back in the White Castle. Weiss found it fitting that she was doing the same thing as she fought the black knight, the black night to her white queen.

A small smile turned the tips of her lips up just as Blake spun around and brought her blade down with all her might.

Weiss easily lifted her rapier up to meet Blake's Gamboul Shroud and on impact a red filed emitted from Myrtenaster and sent Blake sprawling backwards as her arm was flung away. Blake was surprised to find her blade slamming against something so rock solid and had jarred her wrist and sent her spinning backwards.

Weiss quickly re-spun her chamber and had another round of dust running along her blade to imbue it this time with a green tinge, in time to meet Blake now with evenly met blows.

Blake quickly realised that her stronger blows were no longer having the same, jarring effect on the heiress, instead Weiss was parrying and blocking each attack with ease, and soon Weiss' expert speed had the tide of battle turning in her favour.

Weiss' thin, quick precise rapier was soon to find an opening within Blake's stronger, yet slightly slower, defence and the faunas quickly felt the sting of a barrage of thrusts and slashes against her form.

Reeling away Blake sent out a clone, and unfortunately for Weiss she got a bit too cocky and went for another blow and instead her rapier pierced through a flaming clone and detonated it right in front of her.

From the stands both Ruby and Yang were anxiously eyeing the aura gauges as they both were being chipped away in almost equal amounts.

"C'mon Blake!" Yang urged silently, rubbing her hands together.

Ruby on the other was silently praying that her partner would come out of this victorious. Sure Blake was her friend too, but Weiss was her partner, plus Weiss would never forgive her if she cheered for the wrong side.

Weiss spun around and made eye contact with her opponent, feeling some sort of mutual agreement passing between them.

Then in a fury of motion both parties were rushing to each other. They met in the centre of the stage, a mix of white and black, a blur of motion and clanging and sparks.

Blake managed one quick slash across Weiss' front before, the heiress managed to recover and bring her blade up against Blake's neck just as the faunas herself brought her cleaver around and stopped it just against the heiress' neck.

Blake thought she had the advantage as Weiss seemed to forget about her katana as Blake thrust it toward Weiss' abdomen, only to have it stopped by a glyph held in Weiss' right hand.

A hush fell over the entire room. Ruby, Winter and Yang stared wide eyed at their teammates as the two of them remained still with their blades against each other's necks.

None of the students dared to move in case they might miss something or cause one of them to lash out unexpectedly.

But Weiss and Blake remained still as they looked each other in the eye, breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath.

"I suppose," (pant), "I'd be happy with a draw." Weiss said with a smile.

"A draw? Well, I don't see why not." Blake replied, smiling as well.

They both stepped away from each other, dropping their weapons to their sides and turning to Goodwitch simultaneously.

"We call a draw."

"A draw?" Goodwitch repeated. "Are you sure?"

Blake shrugged and Weiss nodded politely.

"Yes ma'am." She replied proudly.

"Okay then, a draw it is."

At the announcement a murmur rushed over the class as they quickly discussed the supring results of the battle, before they broke out into applause as the two girls took their seats.

"A draw?!" Ruby repeated.

"Ruby it's not always about winning." Weiss answered, glancing sideways at Blake with a smile.

"Well yeah I know that, but-"

"No buts."

"Ha you said butts." Winter snickered, laughing as her sister rolled her eyes.

"A draw?" Yang whispered to Blake, "Really?"

"To be honest Yang," Blake started as they were dismissed and began walking out of class. "I think I was about to lose and I'm sure Weiss knew too." She admitted.

Yang perked an eyebrow at the confession and turned to glance at Weiss but found the heiress wearing her signature poker face.

"Seriously?" Yang questioned.

"Yep." Blake replied sheepishly. "Maybe next time though." Blake added, smiling at the thought.

* * *

"So who won?"

"Aah!"

"Kage?!"

"Good evening." He answered politely from his seat at the table near the window, smiling broadly as the five girls in front of him all shared the same expression of surprise and shock.

"How do you keep getting in here?" Ruby asked, her voice a few octaves to high.

"You really should close the window when you leave, what if it rains?" Kage stated with a grin.

"Urgh!" Weiss groaned and shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "I'm going to shower." She stated, entering the bathroom.

"Let me guess, here for Blake?" Yang guessed with folded arms.

Kage only smiled back at Yang.

"I'm actually curious to know who won the fight." He said after a moment.

"Nobody." Ruby answered falling onto Weiss' bed.

"A draw?"

"Apparently." Winter said, moving into the mini-kitchen.

"Interesting." Kage muttered.

"When do you want me to go with you?" Blake suddenly asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

Both Kage and Yang raised an eye brow at Blake's forwardness.

"Since you're asking, how about tomorrow? Seeing as it's the weekend."

Blake thought it over for a moment. "Alright."

"What?!" Yang cried.

"What?" Blake returned casually.

"Don't 'what' me! You can't just go!"

Ruby was standing up and had moved closer to them.

Blake seemed to be thinking Yang's words over for a moment before she turned to Ruby.

"Ruby do you mind?" Blake asked.

Yang gawked at her partner, that wasn't what she meant.

"Do _I_ mind?"

"Well you're team leader, I should probably stop leaving without notice." Blake explained.

"Oh. Uhm…" She didn't think it wise to bring up the fact that now may have been a bit late for that, so instead she glanced over at her sister for guidance but Yang wasn't offering any sound assistance as she remained glancing between Blake and Kage.

"I don't see why not."

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed.

Ruby held her hand up to calm her sister, "But Yang goes with you."

Yang seemed a little happier about that, although she was planning to go anyway if Blake insisted on leaving.

"It's not like I'll be gone forever anyway, I'll come back as soon as I can." Blake stated, ignoring anything Kage would have had to say.

She wasn't lying, whatever it was they wanted her for, she'd find a way back home, her real home, as quick as possible.

"Even so, I think Yang should go with you." Ruby continued before turning to Kage. "We are you going anyway."

"Vacuo."

"Well we know _that_." Yang stated, "What do you need Blake for?"

Kage held his hands up, "I don't need her, our leader does."

"There he goes again about his leader, who is he anyway?"

"She, actually." He corrected. "I guess you'll find out tomorrow afternoon won't you."

* * *

**A/N: The last few questions are about to be answered...**


	31. Leone

"Leave her alone, she's trying to sleep."

"No she isn't, she's wide awake look at her."

"She's awake because you won't leave her alone."

"C'mon mum! I can't leave her she's soooo cute!" The young girl squealed as she looked down into the cot and jumped up and down in utter adornment at the small bundle of cuteness that was before her.

"She needs to sleep, you're going to have to leave her." Her mother protested.

"I will, I'll just watch over her." The older girl replied professionally, grabbing a chair and pulling it up next to the cot to sit and watch her.

The small baby in the cot looked up and gurgled in delight as she watched those two strange yellow triangles flicker atop the girls head. She reached up with a laugh as she tried to reach them but the barriers of the cot kept them separated, at least for now.

The older girl saw the action and reached down and offered her hand, which the child gratefully grasped in her own, small, delicate hands, her fingers just wrapping around an entire finger. The older girl smiled as she let the baby play with her fingers.

"I love you." The girl cooed.

The child only heard sounds, she didn't understand the meaning behind what the sounds were but even then she thought it was a lovely sound. So she gurgled and laughed happily as she heard them, thrashing her legs and arms about in delight, to which the older girl couldn't help but widen her smile.

* * *

There were so many strange sounds and colours and objects and smells. She didn't understand most of them, she was so used to the four walls of her cot and that of the house she lived in. This, this was strange. From what she understood she seemed to be in some sort of seat, but it was being moved around. There was a really bright light above her, sitting in a blue roof, but it was gone once her mother pulled something down over her head.

She kept seeing the colour green, sometimes brown and then even greys and whites and blacks. There were strange green things in the ground and it seemed to be all around her and there were huge rectangular things reaching high up into that blue thing above.

It was all very very strange, but she decided she liked it. Of course it confused her and for the first few moments she looked around with a strange look and had almost started crying, but eventually she got used to it and started liking it.

Especially when a pair of yellow ears peaked down over her pram and greeted her with a flicker.

"Good morning baby girl!" She greeted happily.

She gurgled in response.

"I bet you're a bit confused."

Whether or not she understood the older girl couldn't tell, but the sour look the baby had just given her told her she assumed correct.

"It'll be fine, trust me. We're just outside, and I don't just mean in our garden, but actually outside, like in the park." The girl explained as the baby watched on.

Her mum laughed from behind the pram at her enthusiasm.

"What?" The girl asked, moving her attention away from the baby for a moment.

"Nothing. Please, continue." The mother replied with a grin.

The girl glared back at her mother for a second before turning back to the baby.

"So anyway, as I said, we're outside. I don't think you've seen a lot of this stuff. But don't worry about it I'll teach you al- WHOA!"

The baby frowned as the girl she had been seeing so often, and had grown an affection towards, suddenly left her vision and then her seat stopped moving. She made a confused sound but was largely ignored for the time being.

"Nobody told you to walk backwards." A male voice said, presumably the father.

"How else was I supposed to talk to her?"

"You don't have to look at her the whole time."

"Yeah but you know she likes to look at my ears." The girl complained.

The baby made another sound and was getting agitated by not being able to see what was happening, especially since the girl was gone now. Just when she was about to step over the brink of crying she reappeared again.

"No, don't cry. It's okay, I'm here. I just, fell over." She explained sheepishly.

Once again, the baby really couldn't understand, but she was just glad she could see those small little, triangular ears again.

* * *

Finally she could walk on her own, standing as tall as she could on her own two feet. Admittedly she felt proud about it and the way she showed it was by practically walking around their entire house in one go, all the while her sister proudly following close behind.

"I think Leone is more proud than she is." The father whispered to the mother.

"I dunno, she looks pretty happy about it herself." The mother replied smiling.

The two girls moved around the bottom floor of their house, walking through the kitchen, the tv room, the lounge room, even doing a lap in the bathroom. She was quite enjoying herself, plodding around the house happily.

But then she reached the stairs to the second floor of the house. She stopped and gave them a once over and just as she was about to make her attempt at climbing them when she felt a pair of hands grab her under her arms.

She quickly made a protest, flailing her arms and causing herself to fall over, but at least she was free of the older girls grasp.

"What is it?" She heard her ask.

But instead of even attempting to reply, even though she couldn't really, she got back to her feet and readied herself to walk up the stairs.

She placed one chubby foot on the first step and wobbled a little, feeling a pair of hands gently steady her. With her balance regained she grabbed hold of the railing beside the stairs and lifted herself up onto the step.

She stood on the step, looking around herself before her achievement set in and she giggled proudly, turning to face the older girl as she jumped up and down.

"Yay! You did it didn't you? You're are strong little girl aren't you?"

The one year old made an adorable sound as her smile bubbled at the encouragement.

"Now come on, let's go back down."

The child's smile immediately faded as the girl reached down to pick her up again. This time the noise that left her mouth was less adorable and more hostile as she swatted her hands away.

"You can't go up all the stairs, you might hurt yourself." The girl tried, but of course she was misunderstood.

But she was determined to get up all these stairs. It was her first, reasonable challenge and she wasn't just about to give up so easily. So she turned away from the girl and toward the second step, readying herself to climb it.

The older girl watched with a tired smile as the child attempted the second step and continued to do so up until the fifth step, at which point she herself was rushing up the stairs to pick up the girl as soon as she fell over.

"Oh, I told you didn't I?"

But the child wasn't exactly sure what had happened, for in one instance she was lying on the ground and the very next instance she was in the arms of the older girl and moving back down the stairs. She thought she had fallen over, but as soon as it had happened she was no longer on the ground, so really, how could she know if she fell over?

But at least she received compensation for being removed from her challenge by being placed so close to those little, yellow ears she adored so much.

* * *

Blake was silently packing her things into her bag for the trip up to Vacuo, only the essentials of course. But she seemed to be mindlessly picking things up from the table and placing them in her bag without thought, something was troubling her, she just couldn't her finger on it.

"Planning on practicing permutations on the trip?" Weiss asked Blake as she walked past her teammate.

Blake snapped out of her thoughts and glanced over at Weiss questioningly.

Weiss gave Blake an almost similar look as she nodded to the book in Blake's hand. Blake looked down at the book and wondered when had got there before she turned it over and read the cover.

'Executing mathematics, three unit.'

Why was she putting her math text book in her bag?

"N-no I wasn't." Blake mumbled, putting the text book back on the table.

"Are you feeling alright?" Weiss asked, her head tilted to the side.

"Yeah I'm fine, just got distracted."

Weiss felt as if there was more but was satisfied for the time being and moved on with what she was doing. Ruby had spilt coffee, again, all over her school tie and of course Weiss was the one to clean it up. A few moments later Ruby walked past Blake and met Weiss' side as she tried to wash out the cream and coffee, apologising all the while.

"Ruby, it's fine. Just don't do it again. Actually what am I saying of course you'll do it again, I'll teach you how to clean it."

But even if Blake had amazing hearing, she didn't hear their conversation as she was lost in thought again.

What was bothering her so much?

Blake was starting to get frustrated and she frowned visibly as she tried to fit something else into her pack.

"Do you need help?" Winter asked, noticing Blake's struggle.

"What?!" Blake almost snapped, but checked herself just in time.

"With your bag?"

"Oh, no thank you, it's fine."

Winter shrugged and moved off back to Weiss' bed, falling onto and pulling a book out.

"Blake you ready to go?" Yang called from inside the bathroom.

Blake didn't reply.

"Blake!?"

"Oh!" Blake swore under her breath, what was wrong with her? "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Is Kage here?" Yang asked.

"Who?" Blake replied, hurriedly checking through her bag once again.

"Kage, you know the guy who started all this."

"Oh right, no I don't know where he is." Blake replied.

"Blake are you okay?" Yang asked emerging from the bathroom, a comb moving through her hair.

"Yes I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking?"

"Maybe because you don't sound okay." Yang offered, standing by her side. "Plus I can feel you're uneasy."

"Well I'm fine, there's just something on my mind." Blake said, looking up at Yang.

Blake looked at her partner, looked at her calming lilac eyes and lingered there for a moment, remembering all the reasons why she loved the woman before her, before he eyes shot to her golden hair.

Blake stared at the golden locks, something about them, there was something about the hair that was stirring something within her mind. A distant memory, a dream perhaps. But what about the hair was triggering it? The colour?

"Blake?"

Blake cursed again as she found herself spacing out for the fourth time in the space of then minutes.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm fine, it's nothing I promise."

"Are you sure?" Yang asked.

"Yeah."

"Great, because we should leave."

"Kage!"

* * *

Blake stared out the window for most of the trip to Vacuo, all the while trying to figure what was bothering her. Yang did indeed offer some distraction from the thoughts, between her loud laughing and snoring, and the incident with the inflight nuts, which ended with about twenty three nuts shooting between the occupants.

"Arh shit!" Yang cursed, dropping the now empty packet into her lap.

"That's what happens when you work out so much." Blake dead panned.

"Excuse me, I don't work out 'so much'. I work out enough. If I didn't I wouldn't be able to use for guns at once." Yang said proudly.

"Four?" Blake questioned with a confused look, and was quickly rolling her eyes as Yang tensed her muscles like a strong man.

"Blakey you're missing the gun sho-bmm!"

Blake didn't hesitate to shove her own packet of nuts in her partner's mouth before she could finish her sentence. A few of the other occupants looked over at the blonde as she splattered and coughed out the fruit.

"Gee thanks." Yang dead panned after she regained her breath.

"No problem." Blake replied just as flatly as she turned to look out the window.

"Blake."

Blake sighed, "Yang I'm fine, I promise you. There's just something on my mind that I don't really know what it is."

"Well that helps." Yang muttered.

* * *

"So where is this leader of yours? In some shady part of town? I wouldn't be surprised really." Yang asked as they walked through the streets of Vacuo in the late afternoon.

It was a nice place, Yang had decided, not too different looking from Vale, the people were friendly and polite, if it wasn't for the uneasy feeling of being in a place you knew nothing about, Yang would say it was a lovely place.

"We aren't as hidden as the White Fang, but we are still hidden."

"What do you guys do anyway?" Yang asked, she was doing all the talking, like always.

"I don't think I'm permitted to talk about that." Kage replied.

"Has the White Fang reached here yet?" Blake finally asked.

"Funny you ask," Kage started, "It's an issue that's just risen. So to answer your question, it's happening as we speak."

After that nobody spoke for a while, they all remained silent as they walked between hordes of other strangers moving about their day.

"This is a bit like a field trip isn't it?" Yang said leaning next to Blake.

"I guess." Blake replied.

"C'mon Blake, show some enthusiasm!"

"If I recall weren't you the one who didn't want me to come?" Blake asked.

"Well seeing as I couldn't do anything about it I guess I should make the most of it. Wouldn't you agree?" Yang replied proudly.

Blake felt Yang's aura tingle lightly within her and she couldn't help the small smile that played at the edges of her lips. Yang saw the slight twitch and beamed as she leaned in and grabbed her partners hand and knocked her to the side lightly.

"There it is! Blake you need to smile more!"

"I always smile." Blake replied, without smiling.

"Huuuh!" Yang's sudden intake of breath scared Blake a little and she quickly found herself being pulled to the side by her brute of a partner.

"Look at this dress!" Yang exclaimed, almost smashing into the window of the store.

"Blake look!" Yang urged.

"I'm looking." Blake replied, now she was smiling.

"Look how pretty it is!"

Blake chose that moment to actually look at the dress, and she had to admit it was very 'pretty'.

"It's actually very nice."

"Should we go try it on?" Yang asked, her enthusiasm still holding strong.

"What?! No we should get back to-"

"Oh he waited this long he can wait a little longer."

"A little? Yang last time we went shopping we were there for hours."

"Well duh! C'mon!" Yang said, dragging her partner into the store.

"Ya-aaaaang!"

Two hours and thirty four minutes later Blake and Yang left the store with five bags between them.

* * *

"I can't wait to see you in that dress." Yang stated.

"What!? Me!?"

"Yes you. Did you really think I bought a black dress for myself?" Yang said with a laugh.

"I did think it was odd." Blake muttered. "But you shouldn't have payed for it."

"It was nothing really, think of it as a congratulations gift."

"Congratulations for what?"

"Eh, I'll think of something." Yang replied simply with a shrug.

Blake chuckled lightly, shaking her head at her partner. "Yang I love you."

"I love you too!" Yang leaned forward and kissed Blake lightly on the cheek.

"What?" Yang asked after she pulled back and looked at Blake's slightly stunned face.

"You replied really quickly."

"Oh. I knew you were going to say it."

"How?"

Yang tapped the spot over her chest where she could feel Blake's presence.

"I'm glad you do Blake. Otherwise this would all be very awkward."

"Are you girls done wasting your money?" Kage interrupted.

"Busted." Yang whispered.

* * *

"So this is the place? Looks more like an actual police station." Yang commented.

"Like I said, we are hidden, but not that hidden."

It did indeed look a lot like an official organisation. When they walked in there was a receptionist, whom Kage nodded politely toward, but they didn't stop by her, instead they walked right past her through a door off to the right.

The walked down the hall, the right side a series of floor to roof glass panels that looked into a series of offices and what appeared to be laboratories.

The walked past all the doors along the hall and stopped at the very end of the hall, finally walking through a door that led to a flight of stairs that went up to the second floor. From there they weaved their way through a series of halls that parted in multiple direction, from what Yang could make out they were heading back toward the front of the building.

Finally they rounded a corner and met a single door that sat within a wall that stretched the length of the building.

"This is her." Kage stated, nodding to the door.

"Is there anything we should know about _her_?" Yang asked.

"Besides that she's a faunas, no, not really."

"What kind of faunas?" Blake asked, perhaps a little too quickly.

"A cat faunas." Kage answered carefully, eyeing Blake suspiciously as some of the blood drained from the faunas' face.

"Blake?" Yang called, touching her shoulder gently.

"What colour are is her hair?" Blake asked again, staring at the door.

"Blonde." Kage replied, still eyeing her carefully.

"Oh god." Blake breathed before quickly rushing into the room.

Yang rushed after her and nearly pushed her over as she found her frozen in the doorway. Yang tried to look over her shoulder until she noticed that Blake was trembling slightly.

"Blake what is it?"

No reply.

"Blake?"

A name was trembling on the edge of Blake's tongue, a name she had forgotten all her life until just now.

"L-l-l" Yet she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Blake? Is that really you? Oh god it's been years!"

Someone rushed forward and wrapped their arms around Blake's still frozen figure. Yang watched from behind her partner, unsure of what to do or say, or who this person was or her relation to Blake.

All Yang could make out was that they both had cat ears, only the other girls were yellow.

* * *

**A/N: Conspiracies!**


	32. This is real

**A/N: The dead line is so close and I'm so worried! I need to write faster and finish this before school or else nothing will get finished!**

* * *

What was this? A dream? Surely it would have to be a dream because this person only existed in those extremely hazy dreams she would have every now and then. Even those dreams felt completely disconnected from reality and were simply, dreams.

This person, this woman with her arms wrapped around her holding her tight, should not exist.

Yet here she was, hugging her tightly as if she would never let go.

Blake stared ahead wordlessly as the girl continued to hug her and finally pulled back to take a look at her. It was then that the blonde took her turn to lose her words. She looked over Blake and was speechless.

_'Seventeen years I think it's been. My gosh is this really her?'_

Blake on the other hand was having an inner battle with her thoughts about whether she knew this person or if this was another one of her crazy dreams. But there was a name resting on the tip of tongue, a name that was appearing to bring back memories, but yet again, Blake swore those 'memories' were just dreams. Dreams that she'd wake up from feeling as if something was missing, something she could not explain.

The woman finally took a look at Blake's expression a bout of dread washed over her.

_'She doesn't recognise me.'_

Blake hadn't realised the state her body was in this whole time, she hadn't registered how her body was trembling and her legs felt like jelly beneath her, that was until she took one step back and almost fell over.

"Blake, what's going on?" Yang asked after catching her partner.

Blake blinked at the sound of her partners voice and looked up to meet that calming lilac.

"I-I- I'm not sure." Blake replied with a shaky voice as Yang helped her back to her feet.

Yang turned her attention to the strange woman in front of them. "Who are you?"

The woman looked almost offended by the question, her face visibly showing an expression of hurt. But although it was Yang's voice she heard, she continued to look at Blake.

Yang glanced between the two woman, from the blonde to Blake, back to the blonde and the finally resting on her partners features, at which point something clicked.

The cat ears, they both had a pair.

The hair, although different colours they both had wavy hair.

The nose, Yang could not miss the fact that they were almost identical.

Although Yang was beginning to feel a little sick, she had to admit that if this woman had black hair and amber eyes, she'd just be looking at Blake's twin.

Blake heard Yang's breath hitch and turned to the blonde to find her with a hand over her mouth and a somewhat bewildered look in those usually cheery lilacs.

"Yang?" Blake managed.

Yang looked met Blake's gaze, _'She doesn't realise.'_

"Blake do you know who this woman is?" Yang asked carefully, said woman watching on carefully.

"No,I-I-" Blake looked back to the woman and immediately found herself at a loss for words as she looked at the cat ears sitting above her head.

"I-don't know."

"Blake how can you not know?" Yang said in a lowered tone as she stepped toward Blake.

"I don't know Yang! I-can't be sure!"

"You don't remember me?" The woman asked, her voice trembling as she was forced to ask such a question.

Blake remained looking at Yang for a moment, she didn't want to turn and meet the shattered gaze that the woman no doubt was wearing. Yang remained searching Blake's eyes for an answer.

"Blake?" The woman called.

Now Blake had to turn.

Blake's ears twitched uncomfortably as she looked at the woman's broken expression, she was on the verge of breaking into tears, Blake knew it because she herself was too.

Blake didn't know what to say, she really didn't. What was she supposed to say? That she only saw her in her dreams and thought that's all she was, a dream?

"I-I remember your ears." Blake started slowly. "I remember your hair, your tail. I remember you always being there-" Blake broke.

A rushed breath left her mouth as she started crying, the woman before becoming a blur of yellow and white as tears filled her vision. She felt Yang come to her side and she leaned into her as she tried, and failed, to gather herself.

This was real, this _was _real. This wasn't a dream, none of it was a dream. All of it was real she just didn't want to accept it because she didn't want to feel her world crash upon her again, didn't want to re live the moment the only thing that mattered in her life suddenly left her.

She didn't want to relive the moment she realised her sister was gone forever and her life was ripped to shreds and her heart ached and screamed for weeks.

Yang watched both Blake and, who she was beginning to think was somehow Blake's sister, broke into tears. Her 'sister' watching Blake as her body shuddered through silent sobs.

"I remember-" Blake continued, even though her face was pressed into Yang's jacket and she was still crying. "Being in the cot and grabbing your finger."

Her sister sucked in a breath as the memory played through her mind again.

"I remember going outside, a-and then you fell over." Just as the memories were beating within her heart and thudding painfully against its walls, as it did during that time, just as she smiled that day, Blake and her sister managed a small smile.

"I remember walking for the first time and the whole time you followed. I remember trying to climb the stairs and falling over, expect I didn't realise because you picked me up so quickly."

Now just her sister smiled.

Yang gently let Blake go as she turned to face the woman.

"I remember-" (sniffle) "Wondering around the house, looking for you and finding you in the attic."

Yang watched as her partner forced herself to relive what seemed to be painful memories and wished she could do something to ease her pain, but even with their aura connection, this was between Blake and her sister, not Blake and Yang.

"And I remember," Blake felt sick. Her heart felt as if it had stopped beating and just sat in her chest, burning painfully as she remembered how her world came to a crushing end.

"I remember not seeing you for two whole days-" Blake stopped as another round of painful tears rushed through her. she felt her nails digging into her palms as she tried to squeeze the life out of the memory. All the confusion and frustration from that time rushing back to her.

"Two whole days we were just, not there. Then three, then four, then five. Mum and dad didn't stop crying, I was so confused, so lost. I didn't know what happened, you were just gone."

Most of Blake's tears had gone and now it seemed her anger and frustration was helping her talk clearly. Her sister on the other hand was crying harder now, understanding where Blake was headed, bringing back horrible, horrible memories flooding through her.

Blake felt heat rush through her as she began to feel angry, she was beginning to hate all things that had hurt her, all the things that made her feel like this.

"One week passed and I finally realised you were gone and never coming back! I was shattered, I was crushed, I felt so suffocated and lost. Kids cry because they lose their toys or get in trouble, I cried because my heart was killing me! You just left!"

Now even Yang could see Blake had let her anger get the better of her and was saying things she really didn't want to. Obviously someone like Blake's sister at such a young age would just leave their family behind, something must of happened to her.

"Blake I-" Yang reached out to her partner.

"WHERE DID YOU GO LEONE?!" Blake exploded, now crying again.

All the pain and hurt and frustration boiling to the surface and just exploding. She was gone, all her life she was without her sister. Sure she had forgotten about her, but how could she help it. She was gone without warning and it turns out she wasn't really gone.

How else was Blake supposed to feel?

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Blake yelled again. "What happened!? Why did you leave me?"

Blake voice slowly softened and she nearly collapsed to her knees but Yang was quick to rush forward and hold her tightly, lifted her back to her feet and wrapping her in all the warmth that she could muster but the feeling of Blake limp and shattered in her arms was something Yang quickly decided she never wanted to feel again.

Blake continued to mumble wordlessly into Yang's chest, her chest heaving with each sharp breath and sob.

Yang tried to shush her partner as she looked up to meet Leone's gaze. The poor girl was looking so guilty, for something Yang knew wasn't her fault. But Blake was obviously overwhelmed and had just surrendered to her rush of emotions and yelled what the first thing in her mind.

It just so happened that the first thing on her mind was all the hurt and horror she felt back then which forced her to lash out like that.

"I-I-" Leone started. "Blake please."

Yang could feel Blake in her arms trying to get away from the voice, pushing against her hold to try and run away, but Yang held on tight.

"Blake," she whispered in a lowered voice so that only Blake could hear her. "Blake you can't do this to her, to yourself."

Blake's only response was her soft crying.

"Blake you can't let her apologise, you don't know what happened. You can't let her feel guilty."

"Blake please, I-I'm-"

"Blake she's _your _sister." Yang urged.

"Blake I'm sorr-"

Leone never got to voice her apology as she found someone crashing into her and almost toppling her over.

"Don't apologise!" Blake quickly commanded, her face pressed into her sister.

"Don't apologise." She repeated. "_I'm _sorry. I didn't mean it. I just-"

Blake looked up at her sister who was looking down at her and something clicked in her mind.

She was hugging her sister. She had her arms around the person she thought never existed for so long.

Seventeen years ago was the last time she hugged her sister. Seventeen years ago was the last time she had those ears in her life. Yet she still remembered the feeling of being so close to them, still remembered what it felt like to hug her sister.

"I missed you so much!" Blake cried, tightening her grasp on and burying her head deeper into her sister's form.

"I missed you too Blake."

Yang watched from her position as her partner threw her arms with new conviction around her sister and her sister returned the favour. Yang could help but smile and the fuzzy feeling coming from within her was more than enough to _warm _her up.

She could _feel_ that Blake was happy, her aura was ecstatic and it danced around the fire that was her own aura. If that wasn't reassurance enough for Yang the brawler was soon to hear the sweet sound of Blake's laugh as the faunas let her sister hug her tightly.

But even with such a happy atmosphere, even with her partner being the happiest she's been in a long time, Yang couldn't help but feel a shred of fear for what the future now held for them.

* * *

**A/N:So how did i do? **


	33. Why I left-part 1

Leone was nursing yet another bruise against her shoulder as she walked away from school, rubbing it gently as it throbbed every now and then. Just another purple mark added to the collection.

The kids in her class were relentless, even if she was a girl, to them she was just an animal, a faunas, age or gender didn't matter because in their eyes she was an animal.

But no matter how much she hated them, hated what they did to her, she honestly couldn't blame them because they were only as bad as their parents made them to be. Even at the age of seven Leone understood that if it wasn't for the parents sprouting lies and nonsense to their kids about the faunas she wouldn't be in this position.

Yet even if she understood why this was happening to her, she wasn't going to let it happen without a fight. So after she finished rubbing her shoulder she inspected the two fingernails she broke in the scramble with that boy that pushed her over. Leone couldn't help the smile that reached her lips as she recalled the high pitched squeal that left his mouth as he started bleeding.

Of course _she _was the one to get in trouble, the other boy only getting a slap on the wrist while she got detention. Not only that but the teacher who supervised her was, unsurprisingly racist and prohibited her from eating her lunch, and just to add insult to injury and make humanity seem even crueller, as soon as she pulled her sandwich out of her bag a group of boys ran past her and knocked it to the ground.

So not only was she walking home tired, bruised and depressed, she was also hungry.

Leone sighed, it could be worse and she knew it from experience. This wasn't the first time she walked home like this and unfortunately she knew it wouldn't be the last. But she had to stay as strong as she could because she had a baby sister waiting for at home and Leone wanted to make sure her sister saw the most of the best parts of this world and not all the bloody, dark parts of it, at least not yet anyway.

The walk home was usually a refreshing break for Leone. People were moving to and fro, picking up kids from school or leaving work and thankfully for Leone there were more than one faunas included in that group so she was safe from any more bullies for the time being.

When the mass of people thinned out Leone was left with the huge, magnificent trees that lined the side of the footpath she felt relaxed and at peace. They grew tall and loomed over her, protecting her from the harsh sun in the summer and the cold snow in the winter.

She loved to walk under them with her head craned up as she tried to look through the leaves and branches to find whatever she could. One time it was a small family of finches high up within the trees, dancing around each other and chirping happily.

Another time it was a pair of squirrels chasing each other along the lower, thicker branches. From what Leone could make out the brown one had stolen the stripy one's food and was hurriedly running away.

And how could she forget the one time she spotted a black cat sauntering along the branches of the trees as she followed beneath it watching on intently. She had almost missed it, the shadows of the leaves above the cat causing it to blend in and almost disappear from sight. But Leone saw it, and it saw Leone.

It had looked down at her, its yellow eyes shining bright in the darkness before it looked away and continued along its branch. Leone followed it along, watched it as it leaped from one tree to the next and continued on.

Leone followed it happily all the way along the long footpath until it came to a sudden halt. Leone looked up at it with a frown, why had it stopped? Was something wrong?

The cat looked down at her, looked around itself and then just, sat on the branch.

Then Leone realised what was happening, it wouldn't be a cat in a tree story if the cat didn't get stuck now would it?

The cat looked down at her for a second time and held her gaze.

"You're stuck aren't you?" She called.

The cat hissed at her and looked away, as if to say, 'No I'm not don't be ridiculous.'

"C'mon now, you're not going to get help if you don't admit it." Leone continued.

A small rumble reached Leone's ears from the cat's throat as it continued to avoid eye contact.

"This will just be between us cats, I promise." Leone stated, wiggling her cat ears and flicking her tail forward.

The cat looked down at her, as if it understood her and was trying to see what made the human think _she _was a cat too.

"Meow?" It cocked its head to one side as it looked over Leone's extra features.

"I promise." Leone repeated moving to the foot of the tree.

There was a silence between the two, as the cat seemed to think it over. It could go all the way back the way it came and then jump down, but that was a long way away and this might be a lot quicker. Plus it was a little curious as to why this human had ears like itself and the tail.

"Meow." The cat sighed.

Leone found it odd that at no point did she question her sanity as she seemed to understand exactly what the cat was saying and feeling.

"Ok, I'm coming up."

Leone wasn't bad at climbing trees, if you asked her parents they would no doubt share the story about how _she _got stuck in a tree when she was still a baby, how she got up there in the first place they didn't know, but when did anyone know how a cat got in the tree anyway?

So one snapped branch, a grazed knee and a cut wrist later, Leone reached the branch just beneath the cat. The whole time it had watched her with interest, its amber eyes wide with curiosity and every so often Leone heard a soft meow come from its mouth every time she slipped or nearly fell.

"You're gonna have to meet me halfway here." Leone stated, panting slightly as she rested on the branch.

"Meow!"

"Don't get catty with me! You're lucky I came this far!"

"Meow!"

"I know you didn't ask me for help but no one else would have come to help you anyway."

"Meow."

"That stuff about the firefighters saving cats is only on television actually." Leone stated as she folded her arms.

"Meow?"

"Yes, really."

The cat pawed the branch it was sitting on as it weighed its options.

"C'mon it's not that far down, I'll catch you I promise."

"Meow!"

"I won't miss! Now hurry up, mum and dad are going to get worried."

"Meow."

The cat seemed to mumble something else under its breath that Leone couldn't make out, but it had gotten to its feet and readied itself to leap down toward the human.

Leone held her arms out to catch the cat, steadying herself against the branch.

"Ok, jump!"

And it did, jumped right off the branch and straight into her arms.

Unfortunately Leone had underestimated the cats' weight, or was it her own strength? Either way she stumbled back from the impact and slipped off the branch.

The cat yelled as its world began to fall and turn over, inwardly it was cursing itself for trusting the strange human until everything came to a stop, upside down.

Leone had managed to wrap her legs and her tail around the branch as they fell, causing them both to swing around the branch and come to a stop upside down underneath it, the cat safely held in Leone's arms.

"See, told you I wouldn't drop you." Leone said sheepishly as the cat glared at her.

Eventually they got down safely, but not before a couple of more arguments about Leone's ability to actual get to the bottom whilst keeping the cat alive.

Once they were safely on the ground, the cat finally had a chance to inspect the human properly. It circled around her as she continued to walk home, pawing at her tail every time it swung past. This was indeed a strange human.

"Mum! Dad! I'm home and I have a friend with me!" Leone yelled as she stepped through the door.

"A friend?!" Her mum yelled back. Leone hadn't made friends yet, at least none she knew of.

"Yep, but I don't know what to call her yet, at least I think it's a 'her'" Leone replied.

"What do you mean-Oh." A cat, now that made a bit more sense.

"I found her stuck in a tree." Leone explained with a smile as her mum blinked at her.

"I see that." Her mum stated, looking over her daughters grazed knees and dirtied clothes.

"Are you sure you weren't the one stuck in a tree?" Her father teased as he joined the conversation.

"Yes dad! I'm sure."

"Why did you bring her home?" Her mother winged, although she tried to hide it, imagine the mess!

"I didn't, she just followed me." Leone explained, looking down at the cat as it pawed her tail again.

"She looks seems very interested in your tail." Her father stated.

"Leone! Leone! Leo-" Blake stumbled into the kitchen, freezing when she looked at the cat.

The cat stopped as well and looked at the smaller human, immediately looking at the two black ears that mirrored her own atop the child's head.

The cat cocked its head to one side and plodded over to Blake, it stopped in front of her and sat down, cocking its head to the other side. Blake looked between the cat and her sister, the rest of them remaining silent so they wouldn't interrupt whatever was about to happen.

Those ears, Blake was sure she had seen them before somewhere.

This human, why did it have the same ears as her.

"Meow."

Blake jerked back at the sound, but the cat got up and moved forward before it pawed at the top of Blake's head and felt the familiar sensation of fur against her paws. Blake felt the touch and fell back to land on her bottom and turned her head to the side as she looked at the cat.

The cat turned to look at Leone before meowing softly and turning back to Blake. The cat strode around the back of Blake and was confused to find the lack of a tail like her own.

"Meow!"

Blake turned around and looked at the cat, the both of them blinking at each other. Even their eyes were the same.

Blake got up and looked at her sister and pointed at the cats ears.

"My ears!" Blake stated.

"Meow!" The cat replied, they weren't _her_ ears.

"Leone, my ears!"

"Meeow!"

"Yes Blake she has ears like yours, but they aren't yours. They just look the same because she's a cat and we are cat faunas." Leone tried to explain.

"Fau-nus." Blake repeated, looking back at the cat.

"Yes, faunas and don't you let anyone ever tell you you're anything else." Their mother stated, thinking it a good opportunity to teach them something.

"We may be like this cat here, but-"

"Blake!" Blake interrupted, pointing at the cat. "Cat, like me, cat Blake."

"You wanna call the cat Blake?" Leone asked.

Blake nodded happily, her dad chuckling softly.

"Sure!" Leone accepted, "Go on mum."

Her mother sighed, "We might be like-" she looked at Blake and found her watching her expectantly. "_Blake _here, but unlike us she is an animal. We are not animals, we're faunas."

"Yes mum I know." Leone stated, "You always tell me."

"I know, because I don't ever want you to forget that, no matter what anyone says, you are not an animal, or a monster."

Leone didn't realise she had stopped walking as she became lost in the memory. Once she came to she smiled and continued to walk down the path, she thought about Blake the cat and Blake her sister, the two had formed a strange relationship where the both of them seemed to accept each other as similar to one another. It was an odd relationship and it always fun to watch the two interact, but Blake hadn't come past in a while and Leone wondered where she had gone.

With the thought in mind she smiled and skipped along until she got to a crossing in the road and stopped to check for traffic. There weren't any people around her now, she was relatively far from the school, so all the kids and parents were back down the way, so she was mostly alone and it appeared the road was empty too.

Until a black vehicle came skidding around the corner and sped straight toward her. Leone stepped back to let the vehicle pass but it came straight toward her and stopped right in front of her. Leone took an uneasy step back as the door flung open and a scary looking man burst out and came toward her.

Leone yelled out and turned to run away, but the man grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back. Thrashing and screaming and yelling, she was dragged into the vehicle and taken away and nobody was the wiser.

Leone didn't stop yelling and screaming, even after they shoved something in her mouth her muffled screams still filled the vehicle. It wasn't until the car came to a stop and she was thrown out that she stopped screaming.

Leone looked around, as she was pulled back to her feet. She sniffled and wiped her eyes against her shoulder, having her hands tied up she couldn't wipe the tears away properly. She was being pushed toward a container, not only that, there were other kids around her each with a man pushing them forward.

What caught Leone's attention was that they were all faunas and the men were all human.

Once they were all bundled into the container, the doors were shut closed and they plunged into darkness, up until their vision adjusted to the darkness and they could see.

Leone looked around, all she saw was scared and confused faces of kids all around her age. Most of them had the gags taken out of their mouth and crying and screaming filled the container and strained Leone's ears.

She too was confused and afraid, but she didn't think crying would help.

She was supposed to be going home, she finished school, she was supposed to go home to her mum and dad and to Blake. Blake would be waiting for her. She couldn't stay here, she had to get out, Blake was waiting for her.

Now a sense of urgency gripped Leone's heart and she was beginning to hyperventilate. She tried to walk toward the door but as she did the entire container shuddered and was lifted into the air. They all squealed and yelled as they were thrown off their feet. They slid around until the container came to a rest and they heard the rumble of a truck engine coming to life and then they were moving again.

_'No! No! I need to get home! I need to get back to Blake, she's waiting for me!'_

Leone rushed to her feet and ran to the door, slamming her fists against its cold hard steel.

"No! Stop! Blake! Nooo!" Leone yelled but her voice was drained out by all the other crying and the truck engine.

Leone sat in a corner of the container, her knees drawn up to her chest and she was subconsciously rocking back and forth. She scanned over the container, looking over the other crying children. Some with their face in their hands, some muttering 'mummy, mummy.' There was a young boy holding an even younger girl, there was a group of boys younger than herself fighting, the confusion they no doubt were feeling causing them to lash out.

Leone continued to watch the boy and the girl, both of whom shared a set of similar red fox ears. The boy was affectionately running his hand through the girl's hair and she seemed as if she was on the verge of falling asleep, the boy on the other hand was wide awake and his eyes kept darting around the container.

He met Leone's gaze and held it for a moment before they suddenly came to a halt.

Leone and the boy watched the doors expectantly, but they never opened. Instead the container shook, tilted backward, causing them to slide toward the door with screams and shrieks and then the container was moving upward and came to a stop.

Then there was silence for a long time.

Until the roar of a plane engine came to life and shook them.

Dozens of kids started screaming and a wave of dread fell over Leone.

They were leaving Vale.

Leone rushed to her feet just as they took off, she lost her balance and fell over, sliding toward the end of the container and slamming her head against the steel. She yelled out on impact and her hands went to her head and she curled into a ball.

She stayed like that until the plane levelled out and they were flying straight.

They were leaving Vale, they were taking her away from her family, from Blake. Blake would be waiting for her, they couldn't do this to her!

First a small sob escaped her mouth and then she was quickly crying freely and joined the rest of the kids who were still crying. To those kids, they were crying because they were scared and confused, they didn't understand everything that was happening.

Unfortunately for Leone, she understood everything, ignorance is bliss after all.

She understood that she was never getting home again, she was being taking away. She was never going to see her family again. She was about to lose everything that meant something to her, so she wept and cried as everything shattered and broke.

"Get up."

At first Leone thought she didn't hear the voice, but then he called to her a gain.

"Get up."

Leone looked up from her ball at the boy, her eyes tired from all the crying.

"There's no point in giving up so soon." The boy continued.

Leone just stared up at him.

"It isn't over. Nothing is over until we are dead, are we are clearly not dead."

"What are you saying?" Leone finally asked.

"I'm saying," he started as he knelt beside her, "that you've already quit before anything has even started. You want to get back home don't you? So why would you give up?"

At some point Leone had fallen asleep because suddenly the doors had flung open and light flooded into the container and woke her up. She squinted at the sudden brightness of day and could just see the dark figures that climbed in and walked toward them.

Another trip in a truck brought them to a warehouse, where they were pulled out and lined up. The trip gave Leone enough time to let her think about what Drake, the boy, had said to her and she had decided he was right.

It was unlike to her to give up so quick, all the fights she got into at school were never run away from. She always stood firm and faced down the challenger no matter who it was, so why should this be any different.

From what she had gathered, she understood that they were being sold. Sold as slaves because they were faunas and they were about be auctioned off.

Two of them stood and watched them as the other went to off to call in the bidders. The two men watched them emotionlessly and some of the children were becoming restless, but not Leone and the Drake.

The two shared a glance and Leone nodded to Drake, who nodded back.

"Oi! Fat ass!" He yelled waving to one of the men. "You could lose a few pounds couldn't you?"

The man he was yelling to growled and stalked toward him.

"You little shit!"

He reached forward to grab him, but Drake easily stepped to the side and slipped the small metal object he had hidden in his sleeve down into his palm. Just as the man turned to face him the metal object came swinging around and broke his nose in one clean swoop.

The man yelled out just as his friend moved to back him up.

Now Leone rushed forward and dived for the man's legs, latching on and bringing him to the ground. Leone turned to the other kids and yelled at them to run.

"Go! Run! Quick!"

Leone turned back as the man scrambled to his feet. She made to break away from him but he reached out and grabbed her tail. She yelled in pain and fell on her front. But just as the man was about to pull on the limb something heavy slammed into her knuckles and forced him to let go.

Leone turned around to find Drake standing over the man just before he smacked him in the head.

By then most of the kids had fled the scene and Drake walked over the unconscious men over to the young girl he had been looking after before. He was saying something to her just as the buyers walked in.

"Run!" He yelled, grabbing the girls hand and running toward the end of the warehouse.

Leone followed behind and she heard shouts and yelling behind her and dared a glance over her shoulder to find a group of men chasing them.

They stepped outside and looked around, of course they had no clue where they were and it appeared none of the other kids did either as they were waiting outside for direction.

Drake took one look around before picking a random direction and running that way.

"C'mon!"

They all followed along, running with the road and following close behind him. One of the smaller children fell over at the back but Leone was quick to pull her to her feet and push her onward.

It wasn't long before they heard the roar of an engine racing toward them. Leone looked behind her and found a car speeding toward them, they had to get off the road.

"This way!" Drake yelled, running into an alleyway between two buildings.

They followed him and came to a grinding halt as they reached a dead end. A wall faced them, garbage bins and rubbish lying against the wall. Behind them the men had gotten out of the vehicle and were rushing toward them.

"Climb! We need to Climb!" Leone yelled, running to the front and trying to push the trash bin closer to the wall.

Drake joined her side and even his sister helped her push the heavy bin against the wall. Leone quickly ran around it and threw bags and boxes on top of it before climbing on it herself and ushering the others to follow.

She helped those that were too small to climb on their own and made sure everyone got over before climbing over herself, but not before kicking the bags and boxes off onto the ground.

They entered yet another alley way, except this one ended up leading them into what appeared to be the city. People were moving around quickly, there were buildings reaching high into the sky and vehicles rushing past along the road.

They entered the mass of people and ran in any random direction, the men still seemed to be chasing them. But as Leone remained at the back of the pack, she was slowly losing them as the mass of adults kept pushing past her and causing her to lose sight of them. She continued forward until she reached a crossing and looked around, did they go left? Right? Straight?

Leone looked behind her and could just make out the figure of two burly men pushing their way to her. Taking a shot in the dark she went left. Between fighting the tide of the people and looking over her shoulder and running out of breath, it was inevitable that she was going to fall over.

She hit the ground and was almost trampled on, she tried to get to her feet but the tide of the people just kept pushing her over, soon the two men had caught up.

"No! Stop! Help!" She cried out as the grabbed her feet and tail.

She lashed out with her legs, all the while crying out for help, but it seemed the people here were just as bad as the people back in Vale.

Fortunately enough, those that continued on their way without stopping helped by pushing around the men as well and allowed Leone to get free. As quick as she could she got back to her feet and ran as far as she could before she found two more men coming to her from her front.

"Oh no."

Quickly thinking on her feet, she went for the nearest alley way and ran straight down without stopping. But just like the other one, this ended in a dead end and there was no climbing this wall as it reached hundreds of meters into the air. She turned around, back pressed against the wall as the men drew in close.

Was she about to lose the fight and end up back in that warehouse?

As fate would have it, no she wouldn't.

As the men drew closer and Leone had almost lost all hope, and dark figure flashed across her vision and left one of the men falling over. The other three paused and watched their comrade hit the ground, before the flash reappeared and took out the rest of them in a blur of motion.

Leone watched as the men fell to ground one after the other, a small stream of blood painting the wall of the alley. Leone stepped back and forgot there was a wall behind, bumping into it as the figure turned to face her.

Leone couldn't help but stare at the shroud of black feathers that wrapped around the figures neck and reached up to cover their face.

"Let me guess? You're from Vale?"


	34. Why I left - Part 2

**A/N: Erghem, no comment really. **

* * *

"V-Vale?" Leone repeated, still trying to comprehend what was going on. The shroud of black feathers covering the persons face didn't help.

"I'm going to assume that you are. I think you should follow me." The figure said, from the voice Leone assumed it was a female.

"Follow?"

"Well if you want to ever get back home, alive. Yes, follow."

The mention of going back home was more than enough to get Leone moving toward the strange figure, until common sense kicked in and she hesitated.

"I don't even know you." Leone stated wearily.

"And you never will, what's your point?" The woman replied, getting irritated.

"How can I trust you?"

The woman sighed, "Look kid, all of that logic is good in theory and props to your parents, but this isn't 'theory' this is life or death, so if you like breathing come with me." The woman didn't bother staying any longer, turning on her heel and walking down the alleyway, leaving Leone alone.

"W-wait!"

With a sigh the lady came to a halt and waited for Leone to run up to her side.

"What about the other kids?"

* * *

"Listen up! I'm only going to say this once so you better pay attention."

It turns out the place Leone was led to was the same place the rest of the kids had ended up. Apparently, from what Drake told her, two women and a man found them and brought them here, telling them pretty much the same thing the strange woman told her.

Upon arriving in this strange building, walking close to the woman's side and nervously looking around, when Leone looked up at the woman's face she could actually see it, the thick black feathers that had covered it before had relaxed and fallen down to rest along her shoulders and back.

Leone thought she had beautiful, thick dark hair. It was a really beautiful black that was strange to look at, but strange in a good way. The quick glimpse Leone got of her eyes showed her an eye colour that was an equally deep, captivating black that seemed to go on forever and ever, but there was a small sparkle within them, it was faint but it was there.

She rolled her neck with a few satisfying pops before noticing Leone's gaze.

"Can I help you?"

Leone looked away.

Leone was more relieved than surprised, not to say she _wasn't _surprised, to find all the kids safe and together. It wouldn't have been fair for her to get away while some of the others didn't, just thinking about the possibility filled her with guilt.

But here they were, all neatly lined up, looking a little less scared and worried, but still very confused. The woman that saved Leone had whispered something to one the women who saved Drake and the others and then turned to address them all.

"I'm sure a lot of you are very confused and unfortunately, you may get even more so after this. If you all want to get home at some point in the future, you will want to stay with us for the next few months."

_'Months!?'_

"Now, before you start crying and screaming," The woman said as she watched some of the younger children scrunch their faces up. "Besides a few months really not being that long, a few months is how long it will take for those men to leave you alone. They will be looking for you for a while, and not to mention the fact that it's not very easy for a child of five or six to just leave a kingdom, you're going to need to cooperate with us."

She paused as she scanned the faces of the children in front of her "Understood?"

"A few months?" Drake repeated, his sister clutching his shirt tightly.

"Yes."

"What are we supposed to do for a few months?"

"Wait, twiddle your thumbs?"

"Where are we anyway?"

"Hidden."

"From what?"

"Everything."

Drake hesitated as he was faced with the woman's attitude.

"You're not very friendly." His sister said, half hiding behind him.

"No I'm not am I."

"What about our families?" Leone asked.

The woman looked down at her before answering, "Unfortunately for them they'll have to wait too. They're probably being monitored as well."

"What exactly are we waiting for?" Drake asked, eyeing the woman carefully.

She looked down at him, considering the question and the way he was looking at her. Perhaps this boy would like to really know what they're waiting for.

"You, my dear sweet child, will be waiting for us to get rid of those men. And do you know what I mean by, 'get rid of'?" She asked, leaning close to him.

"Good." Was all Drake replied with, his gaze never faltering.

The woman perked an eye brow at him, maybe he did have the guts. She straightened up and turned to her comrades.

"Get them out of here."

The girl she spoke to, she looked a bit younger than her, nodded before stepping forward and addressing them all in a much more kid friendly attitude.

"I like her better." Drake's sister whispered to him.

He smiled as they started following her. He paused and turned when he realised Leone wasn't following, finding her standing still and watching the strange bird lady walking away.

"Leone?" He called.

Leone jumped as his voice pulled her form her thoughts. She turned to face him and quickly jogged to catch up.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing." Leone replied.

* * *

It was about one week later that Leone saw that woman again. Leone had been wondering around the complex, the building they had been eating, drinking and sleeping in was bigger than she had thought. It went up quite a bit and ran along the ground a fair bit too and seeing as they had a few months here, what else was she going to do?

She was alone with her thoughts, walking aimlessly about, a few other people walked past her but didn't say anything to her. She was deep in thought and might not have replied anyway. She was thinking about where she was and the people here, what they did and why they did it.

It seemed they were a group of faunas and humans, fighting back against the horrible people in their world, at least that was the simple explanation, the one Alice had given her. Alice was basically one of their baby sisters, one of the friendlier people the kids had begun to like. Alice was a human.

Leone was in the midst of thinking about home, about her parents and Blake and was just about to stop and break down when she heard a loud thumping smacking noise. She jumped in surprise and turned toward the source, she looked around and heard it again, coming from her left around the corner ahead of her. Having nothing else to do Leone walked toward the sound.

She turned the corner and continued on until she walked past a door, that she nearly missed, and looked inside. She found the bird woman sparring against a boxing bag hanging from the ceiling that was currently swinging wildly to and fro as if had been hit by a shot gun.

Leone found herself watching as the woman spun around and kicked and punched and did all sorts of moves Leone had thought only existed in movies. After a few moments Leone was no longer looking at the crazy, gravity defying, moves but instead was looking at the woman's figure itself.

Leone had guessed she was a bird faunas from the feathers that had covered face and then fell back against her shoulders, but what Leone couldn't see then but could now thanks to the lack of clothing, was that said feathers also covered her legs, started from the ankle and reaching up and stopping midway up her thighs. Her back was completely covered, hugging her form and highlighting her muscles and bones, the dark feathers reached around to her sides, leaving her front bare with just the tip of the feathers stretching out from her sides.

Her shoulders and a bit of her arms were covered as well, the feathers at the front of her neck were currently parted and spread out to the sides, it seemed she had control over some of the feathers, if not all of them.

Leone had never seen a faunas with so much of their animal attributes spread across their body like this. The most she knew of was tails and ears like her and her family had, she never thought they could be like this.

"HYAH!"

Leone startled as she suddenly yelled out and sent one particularly powerful punch straight into the bag and burst a whole right into the casing. Sand gushed out and immediately began creating a small mountain beneath it on the ground.

She stayed there for a moment, breathing heavily and from where Leone was watching she could see that her eyes had changed and become completely black, the usual white part of a normal eye was gone and had become clouded black, giving them the appearance of a crows eye. Until she blinked and they went back to normal.

The woman pulled her hand out and shook it, brushing off the sand and walking up to the bag to unhook it. As she was in the process of doing so she caught a glimpse of a flicker of yellow and a swishing tail just behind the bag and standing near the door. She lowered the bag and looked at Leone, who stumbled back at the gaze.

"Can I help you?" She asked, dropping the bad with a solid thud and a rushing of sand.

"I-uh, uhm."

"You're lost?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"N-no!" Leone replied, nervously avoiding eye contact.

"Well why were you staring?"

"Staring? I wasn't-"

"Don't lie to me."

Leone nervously looked up at her and then quickly back to her feet. "I didn't know we could be like that." She finally answered carefully.

"We? You mean faunas?"

Leone nodded.

"Like what? Like this?" She motioned to herself.

"I don't mean it in a bad way!" Leone quickly added, "I just didn't know, that's all."

The woman considered the girl for a moment. "There's a lot you probably don't know." She moved to pick up her water bottle.

Leone stayed, she didn't know why but she didn't want to leave just yet.

"You can control your feathers?" She queried.

The woman placed her bottle down and looked at Leone. Without a word the feathers around her neck and shoulders arched up and covered the lower half of her face, the upper half was covered by some feathers that seemed to be resting underneath her hair.

"You mean like this?" She asked, although her voice was slightly muffled.

Leone nodded, accepting that much as answer. She watched as another punching bag was lifted out of a closet and replaced back onto the hook.

"What's your name?" Leone asked, she had just realised she didn't know it.

"Why? You'll be gone in three months or so."

Leone shrugged, "So?"

_'She's one of those kids huh?'_

"Electus." She answered with a sigh.

"That's a cool name."

"Thanks." Electus replied sarcastically, unlocking the chain from the railing on the ceiling and pushing the boxing bag along to the other side of the room.

"I like your hair." Leone quipped.

"Do you want something from me?" Electus quickly asked, turning to Leone with a stern gaze.

"N-not rea-"

"So why are you still here?"

"I had nothing else to do."

"Don't you have that boy to talk to?"

"Well yeah but he has his sister." Leone explained.

"So?"

Leone didn't reply straight away, letting the question hang in the air and just as Electus was about to give up she answered.

"She reminds too much of _my_ sister, back at home."

Electus watched Leone carefully and after a few silent moments and a soft sob and sniffle, she sighed and knelt in front of Leone.

"Look, uh Leone was it? Stop worrying, you'll be home in no time, you'll see her soon."

"But what if-"

"No buts," Electus interrupted, "I promise you will." She said, searching for Leone's brown eyes until they looked up at her.

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but you can't break a promise."

"I don't plan on it." Electus replied, standing up and moving to the bench with all her gear on it.

She opened up a bag and pulled out to long objects and was in the process of unwrapping them when Leone asked another question.

"Can you teach me?"

Leone paused just as she pulled the blade out of its sheath.

"Excuse me?"

"How to fight. There are bullies back at home and I'd like to know how to fight back without getting hurt."

Electus dropped her weapon back onto the table and turned to face Leone with a quizzical expression.

"Bullies?" She repeated.

"Well that and you liked kinda awesome." Leone confessed sheepishly.

After some careful consideration Electus spoke, "You know you'll never look like me."

"Obviously, I'm a cat faunas not a bird faunas." Leone replied with a grin.

"A sense of humour? Not bad. I guess so, I don't see why not."

Leone's face lit up with joy.

"Don't get too happy, it won't be easy."

* * *

The next couple of weeks Drake was become increasingly curious as to where Leone went at half-past-six every night and why she came back sweaty and in pain, not to mention how long she slept for, _and _the occasional bruising.

He had asked her but she just told him she went running around the place and fell over sometimes, said she liked to climb things, which was true, but something didn't add up. You don't get muscles from running around.

So far Leone could throw a proper punch in the blink of an eye, a straight jab she learned to call it. She knew a couple of other punches and the occasional kick. She knew how to break someone's wrist if someone grabbed her and how to flip someone if they got her from behind. Not to mention that she could do almost fifty push ups and sit ups.

Electus was surprised by Leone's enthusiasm and how quickly she jumped into routine. She was never late, never complained, and never left without completing a full set, even if she did throw up, that was the only time she had something to yell at her about.

She was just a kid but she had a lot of ambition, Electus was beginning to wonder whether a child like her was using that ambition in the right place. Sure it was only for a couple of months, but that was a long time to change, but whenever Electus had a thought like that Leone would turn around and share a story of her family and return to her normal self.

Electus became very familiar with Blake the cat as well as Blake her sister, she found the stories funny that two beings of similar nature yet completely different evolutionary states had grown so close to each other and come to a rather, mature, mutual agreement, even if one was just a cat and the other only three years old.

"Blake is smart, don't underestimate her."

"Wait, which Blake?"

"Oh. Come to think of it they both are." Leone replied with a smile.

When they weren't sparring, training, out of breath or talking about life in Vale, Leone would ask her questions about herself. Questions that she found herself answering without objection.

"Your eyes," Leone began after they had sat down, "You can change their colour?"

"My eyes? Oh, when they go all black?"

"Yeah, I only saw it once but at the time I didn't think it was a good idea to ask." Leone admitted.

"You were probably right." Electus said with a smile. "To answer your question, no not really."

Leone cocked her head to the side, urging her to explain further.

"They only change when I get angry, I don't know how to change them myself. It's an emotion thing." Electus explained, fiddling with her bottle cap.

Leone nodded, before jumping down from the bench and walking to the centre of the mat laid on the floor.

"C'mon, let me flip you again."

Other times it was simple questions like;

"Don't your feathers make you hot?"

Or strange questions;

"How do you shower with all that?"

Or questions she had never thought about in a while.

"Do you ever wish you could fly?"

Then there was that one question.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Electus froze, Leone found it weird that her feathers shook a little when she asked the question.

"I did."

"Did? What do you mea-Oh… Sorry." Leone regretted being so inquisitive.

"No it's-it's ok."

There was an uncomfortable silence between them then. Leone was about to leave when Electus' voice stopped her.

"How about I show you how to fight with these?"

Leone turned around as the ringing of a blade leaving its sheath filled the air. Electus had never seen someone so excited before in a very long time, '_shame she'll be using wooden ones and not the real thing'_, she thought with a grin.

* * *

Leone had come quite far and learnt most of the basics about fighting with swords by the time a 'few months' had passed and they all received news it was safe for them to go home.

Electus went around gathering all their information, parent's names, addresses and phone numbers if they knew them, anything that would help them contact family. It was a joyous day, nobody could sit still and they were the happiest they had been since being thrown in that container. Drake's sister was finally smiling brightly and it was such a pleasant sight to see for Leone, thinking of her sister back home.

When Electus came around to ask her for her details she just smiled down at her, "I don't suppose Blake the cat has a phone number?" She asked with a grin.

"No." Leone answered with a giggle.

It would take at least two days, but they could all wait, they had waited this long after all. Two days was enough time for Leone to realise she's be leaving everyone here behind, Drake, his sister, Alice even Electus. She only knew them for a little while, but goodbyes were always hard.

"I'll miss you." Leone confessed after their last training session.

"I'll miss you too kid. Just don't forget to keep your arms up and to turn into your punch, I'm those bullies will never stand a chance."

Leone laughed softly, but it quickly died out. "I'll never see you again will I?"

"Aw c'mon, don't be like that. You don't need to see me in person to see me."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean as long as you remember me I'm sure I'll pay you a visit in your dreams. Plus I don't see how you could forget someone as ugly as me."

"You're not ugly, you're beautiful."

_'Why am I blushing?!' _Electus yelled at herself.

She wasn't the only one, Leone had turned away from her completely.

"Well anyway," Electus started, "You need to go to bed, you have a bid day tomorrow."

A big day indeed, but not a happy one.

* * *

"Leone! Come over here please." Electus called her over from the group of kids, who were now piling into a van that would later take them to the airport. Drake shot her a quizzical look but she just shrugged back before running toward the faunas.

"What is it? I already said bye once and that was really hard." Leone winged.

"No, please just listen." Electus knelt down in front of her and sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I uh, have some bad news."

_'Why is this so hard?'_

"Bad news?" Leone repeated, a horrible feeling washing over her.

"Yeah, uhm."

_'Oh god.'_

"Your parents, back at home, they were… they were uh…" Electus couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence as she watched the colour drain from Leone's face.

"What? They were what?!" Leone half yelled half cried, taking a step away from Electus.

"Leone please, I'm sorry."

"What?! What happened to them?!"

"They were killed." Electus finally said, immediately regretting her decision as Leone registered the words.

"NO! No! No they weren't! You're lying!" Leone yelled, quivering and shaking.

"I'm not lyin-"

"Yes you are! You just don't want me to go!" Leone yelled, she felt sick. She felt so sick.

"No Leone, please. I know this is hard-"

"You promised!" Leone cried. "You promised I could go home and see Bla-" Leone froze.

_'Oh god no.' _Electus thought, _'Leone I'm so sorry.'_

"Blake! What about Blake?! Where is she!?" Leone yelled.

Electus just looked down at her.

"What?! Say something?! Tell me where my sister is!?"

"Leone she's-"

"NO! NO! YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE LYING!" It was the only reasonable explanation.

Leone didn't know why she would something this cruel to her, but here she was lying to her telling her parents were killed and her Blake was-

"NO!" Leone threw a punch at Electus' thigh and turned and ran toward the van.

"No Leone!"

Leone tripped over her own shaking feet and fell onto the ground. Drake had stepped out and was watching on, confused and worried, his sister close behind him.

"SHE'S NOT! SHE'S NOT! THEY'RE ALL HOME WAITING FOR ME!"

Leone tried to get to her feet but Electus had caught up to her and was holding her tightly, it was all she could now.

"BLAKE IS WAITING FOR ME! SHE WANT'S TO SEE MY EARS! SHE WANTS ME TO CARRY HER AROUND THE HOUSE! SHE'S WAITING! SHE PROBABLY MISSES ME!" Leone yelled, as she tried to break free.

No amount of training could help her get out of this place that was hurting her so much.

Someone ushered Drake back into the van and closed the door, no sooner had the engine started and they were on their way to the airport.

"NO! WHERE ARE THEY GOING WITHOUT ME!"

Electus knew there was nothing in Vale for her anymore. There was nothing, home was gone now. Just four walls filled with memories that would cause more pain than anything.

"Leone please." She whispered into her ear as she continued to yell and scream.

"WHY?! WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME!? YOU PROMISED!?"

"Leone…"

A heart wrenching wail pierced the air as Leone screamed at the top of her lungs, the sound did nothing to block out the pain that was hammering within her.

"WHY!? Why!? Why does everything hurt so much!" Leone cried.

"They can't be gone! They can't be!" Leone finally went limp in Electus' arms.

Was this here fault? Had she done this to her?

Another scream ripped through the silence and seemed to echo through the air, bouncing around back to them over and over, a constant reminder of what was happening to Leone.

She couldn't accept it, she refused to. Electus had promised her that she could go home to see Blake again. You can't break a promise!

"You promised!" Leone cried.

"I'm sorry."

"You said I could see her again!"

"I'm sorry."

"You lied and now it hurts so much!"

"Leone, I'm so sorry."


	35. What is home?

**A/N: Why hasn't anybody said anything in ages?**

* * *

Blake and Leone sat in silence for a long time. Having just listened to what actually happened to her sister Blake was utterly speechless. What was one to say after seventeen years? Blake had listened to her sister quietly, not for one second doubting any part of the story, she had no reason not to believe her. It was hard to hear what she went through, hearing how she heard of their parents demise only brought back memories to Blake as well. Of course she was much younger at the time, but she understood some of why her mum and dad were lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

It wasn't long after that that someone came and scooped her up, later on she would learn that those people were called the White Fang, but for the most part it was hard for a child of her age to live without any family at all, surrounded by strangers and people who always seemed busy and angry.

During their moment of silence they each took a moment to consider each other. To Blake Leone hadn't changed too much, besides her face losing its roundness and becoming sharper and more mature, she still had those same small yellow ears atop her head and her equally yellow tail swaying behind her. Leone's gentle brown eyes were as soft as ever, light and welcoming, something Blake had never forgotten about.

Blake was just the same. Leone remembered how plump and round her cheeks had been and now they had flattened out and gave her a more serious look. Her eyes were as bright as ever, amber gleaming strongly even in the dim light. It seemed she never did end up growing a tail like she had, perhaps it was for the best, which brought Leone's attention to the bow above her head. Maybe she should ask about it later.

Besides all the physical changes Leone could tell something was different about her little sister, even if they had only been talking for a few hours. Something about the way she held herself and spoke told Leone that something had happened to her in the seventeen years they were separated, something that weighed heavy on her shoulders.

But as it would appear, Blake had made a friend, a very close friend judging by the way the blonde never left her side and held her hand affectionately. The brawler was interesting to Leone, just as were the bracelets around her wrists and her lilac eyes. She seemed like an intriguing girl, but perhaps that would be another question for later.

"Blake, what happened to you?" She asked, gently breaking the silence. "Why was I told you were dead?"

Blake looked up at her sister, taking a deep breath and fiddling with Yang's fingers in her hand. Yang glanced at her partner, but as for the rest of time, remained silent, only affording quick embraces through her aura which she knew Blake had accepted gratefully.

"I uh. After mum and dad, I was taken in and basically was removed from the outer world."

"Taken in? By the White Fang?" Leone had known Blake was a part of the White Fang, just not for how long.

Blake nodded, "They made me 'disappear'. I was still just a kid but they gave me somewhere to stay, somewhere to call home."

"Which is why I hadn't know about you for so long."

"Two years ago I decided to leave, what we were doing, what we had started doing, I couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't right, it wasn't what we were taught." Blake explained, struggling with her words. "I forced myself to leave the place I had called home for so long and I had to leave someone that cared for me behind."

"You left?"

"I did and I went to Beacon, to try and start again."

"Beacon? You got into Beacon?" Leone asked, a strange, proud smile reaching her lips.

"Yeah why wouldn't I?" Blake replied with a smile.

"Is this where your friend comes in?" Leone nodded to Yang.

"She's my partner."

"Partner?"

"Teammate."

"Girlfriend," Yang cut in.

"Girlfriend?" Leone repeated with a smirk.

"Yang!?" Blake exclaimed.

"What?"

Leone laughed, "Is she always like this?"

"Who Blake?" Yang looked at her partner, "Yeah kinda."

"Yang!"

"What I'm being honest."

"Well stop!"

"Blake she's your sister, she's supposed to know all the embarrassing things about you."

"Talking from experience?" Leone asked, her smile still staying strong.

"My younger sister Ruby, she's actually team leader."

"Younger sister?" Leone raised an eye brow.

"She's sixteen, got pushed forward two years. Don't ask why, we don't even know really."

"Anyone else in this team?"

"Mm, no don't think so."

"Yang!"

"Oh the ice queen?"

"Yang don't be mean."

"C'mon you know I'm joking."

"Who's the ice queen?"

"Weiss Schnee." Blake answered, rolling her eyes at her partner.

"Weiss Schnee is in your team? I imagined you two got along well." Leone stated.

"We got over it." Blake stated simply, "She's really not that bad." Blake shot her partner a look.

Leone nodded as Blake mumbled angrily at Yang and Yang simply shrugged it off and laughed, wincing when Blake hit her in the shoulder.

"You two seem to be quite close." Leone stated.

"Well she does sleep under me." Yang replied with a grin.

"What?!" Leone exclaimed.

"In bunk beds!" Blake cried, "We sleep in," Blake slammed her elbow into Yang's side, "bunk beds."

"Riiight." Leone breathed. "Anyway, tell me something! Tell me something about school, have you had any cool missions?"

Blake and Yang shared a glance, 'cool' wasn't exactly the right word for what they've gone through.

"We fought a titan." Yang offered.

"A titan! At your age!? What were you thinking?"

What they were thinking was something like, 'we need to save Ruby and stop Cinder' but instead of saying that they just shrugged.

"Well how did it go?"

Blake and Yang shared another glance, they shouldn't really tell her should they.

"I broke it's armour and Blake had to dress as a corgi for a week." Yang quipped.

"You what?" Leone laughed. "Before we get to Blake and the corgi, how did you do it?"

"Oh there was a lot of spinning and glyphs and fire and pain. So much pain." Yang cringed at the memory.

"Pain?"

"She gets stronger when she gets hurt." Blake explained. "So feel free to beat the crap out of her."

"Oh that reminds me! I have pictures!"

"Of what?" Blake asked, slightly afraid.

"Of you dressed like a corgi of course." Yang answered with a smile as she pulled her scroll out and offered it to Leone.

"Ya-ang!"

* * *

Time passed along like this, going back and forth between Yang embarrassing Blake, Blake hitting Yang and Leone laughing.

Leone was told about Zwei, and how Blake had reacted and still does to this day. They told her about her fight with Weiss and how she knew she was going to lose but a draw was called anyway. Blake explained Luna to her sister, Leone found it very interesting and was even proud of her little sister for managing such a feet. Blake and Yang both made sure not to bring up Raven, or anything related to her.

Leone had found their food fight in Forever Fall hilarious, but they left out the part at the end about that mercenary. She found their second food fight, where they crashed Ruby and Weiss' date night even funnier, especially since the fight was short lived and everything got covered in snow.

"I like Weiss Schnee," Leone decided, "She sounds cool."

"HEEEY!" Yang wooped, pointing her fingers at Leone.

"What?"

"Nice pun." Blake rolled her eyes.

"Pun? What pu-oh." Leone looked to her sister, who just looked back and shook her head slowly.

They didn't realise how much time had passed until someone walked into the room in the middle of another of Yang's story and told Leone that the sun had gone down.

"So what? What does that mean?" Blake asked.

"It means it's time to work." Leone stated, just as the room came to life.

A huge screen at the end of the room that they hadn't noticed earlier lit up and began displaying dozens of different screens, camera feeds, data logs, chat rooms, traffic details, almost everything that held any sort of information.

Just as the screen came on about a dozen or so people, human and faunas alike pooled into the room and sat at various desks and computers around the room. Soon the displays on the huge screen blinked off until there were only a few left, presumably the most important ones.

"What is 'work' anyway?" Yang asked, watching everyone suspiciously.

"Think of us as an anti-crime unit."

"Anti-crime unit?"

"Yeah, just one that doesn't like to be seen by anybody else."

"And why might that be?"

"We tend to work outside of the regular guidelines of official authorities. For the most part, we really are just a small group of people, there are only a few of us that actually go into the field, it helps to keep us under the radar and just as a 'group of vigilantes'. It keeps our enemies less alert and ignorant."

"Enemies?"

"Anyone really. Anyone who threatens society."

"When did you become the leader of all this?" Blake asked.

This was giving her ideas, giving her hope. For so long she wanted to do something about the White Fang, do anything to bring them back to what they were meant to be, but she never knew where to start. Beacon was just one step, after that she was walking blind, this here, what her sister was doing, her _sister_, was more than enough to give Blake some direction.

"When the previous leader passed away." Leone answered, her voice low and solemn.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Blake stated.

"Kage told me the White Fang had become a problem recently. What's that all about?" Blake asked after a short silence.

"That's very true." Leone stated, walking up to a desk and looking at the screen. "Not so long ago, a small group of faunas arrived, they came in one by one so as to not attract too much attention. But we like to keep an eye on the faunas that come and go for this very reason and it was soon discovered that this group of faunas, although separate, had met up at some point and formed a group."

"A scout party?" Blake asked, Yang listening on intently.

"We don't really know, it would seem like that, but we can't be sure."

"Why didn't you just get rid of them?" Yang asked.

"Because if we did that, word would get out that their 'scouting party' had been destroyed and they would probably never come back here again."

"So?" Yang asked again, trying to see the flaw in that situation.

"When they came here, I made a decision. That decision was that the White Fang was as much as my problem as it was for anyone in Vale, so as such I would have to deal with it. If I did get rid of the scouting party and they _did _decide not to come back here, than all I've done is pass the problem onto somebody else. But if I let them stay, let them feel at home and they call more of their friends over, I have a better chance at putting a bigger dent in their operation."

"Isn't that a bit risky?" Blake asked. "What if they do something to the people living here?"

"So far they haven't done a thing, but if they ever plan to, I'll make sure I stop them personally."

"Maybe you should come to Vale." Blake mumbled out loud.

"What was that?" Leone asked, Yang shooting her partner a look.

"Why don't you just come to Vale and help deal with the problem there?"

"The White Fang isn't our only problem Blake."

"Yeah I can see that, but the White Fang is a pretty big deal back home. We could use your help."

"We?" Yang repeated, but was mostly ignored.

"I can't just get up and leave, we keep so many things in order here, we can't just go to Vale."

"But you just said they were your problem too!" Blake argued.

"Blake I know what I said but you're taking it out of context."

"Leone Vale is your home! You can't just abandon it!"

"Vale hasn't been my home for seventeen years Blake!" Leone yelled back, a hush falling over the room.

Blake blinked and took a step back. The two sisters looked at each other and it didn't take them long to realise they had just met their first bump in the road.

Vale wasn't Leone's home anymore, it was Blake's. Leone's home was Vacuo, it had been ever since she lost everything, or so she thought, in Vale. They lived in two different worlds now, but they were still sisters. They both knew this was going to be difficult.

"Blake I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No it's fine. I shouldn't have started yelling. It was wrong for me to expect something like that."

Leone sighed and stepped closer to her sister. "Blake I'm sorry. I really am."

A silence fell over the three girls, until Leone came up with a thought.

"What if you stayed here and helped me with the White Fang?"

Yang's eyes shot open. "What?!" But once again she was ignored.

"Stay with you?" Blake repeated.

"Blake I haven't seen you in seventeen years, I missed you so much. I want you to be by my side again, I never want to leave you alone ever again."

"I-In Vacuo?" Blake stuttered, feeling Yang's aura flinch back suddenly.

Leone opened her mouth to say something before someone interrupted her.

"Leone! We got something!"

Leone cursed under her breath before turning around and moving to the person who called her.

Blake ran the question through her mind, over and over and over. It was a simple question and the reasoning behind it was even more simpler. Leone was her sister, her sister she thought was gone her whole life. They had been reunited so wasn't it natural for her to stay with her like she had done all that time ago?

The prospect was very welcoming, to have her sister back, to have the time to grow together again and feel that connection they had again. How she longed for it now that it right in front of her. All the emotions and joy and happiness rushed through her as if to give her a glimpse of what it was like.

But something was nagging at her, something was pulling against her to turn away from it.

Her home was in Vale, with Yang and Ruby and Weiss. Wasn't it?

* * *

**A/N: Review? Pleeeeease? Comment. Was this too soon? Did you want more sisterly love? Gimme something**


	36. What is family?

**A/N: School is tow days away! Help!**

* * *

"Blake-"

Yang was cut off just as the huge screen before them blinked and displayed two sets of camera feeds, enlarged within the centre of the screen, grabbing everyone's attention.

The feed was in black and white, a group of about a dozen men, shaded in with greys and blacks were piling in to two different vehicles which were currently parked behind each other in an alley way somewhere within the city.

What caught Blake and Yang's attention about the scene were the white and grey mask that were covering their faces, as well as the poorly hidden weapons underneath their jackets and coats.

"They're making a move." Leone mumbled.

"Do you know where they are going?" Blake asked, moving next to her sister.

"They've been staking out a few stores around the city for the past few weeks. That might be a good guess." One of the agents called out from their desk.

"Put them up on the map." Leone ordered.

Not a second later, the two camera feeds were minimised and pushed to the side of the screen and an overhead map of the city appeared, four red pings flashing regularly, marking the stores mentioned.

"Four stores, two cars." Yang muttered, assessing the situation as well. If Blake was she might as well.

"How do we know which ones they're going for?" Yang asked.

"Do you have details on the stores?" Blake asked the agent who had spoken before.

The agent glanced over at Leone, before Leone nodded and he brought up the details of the stores. Their addresses, names, opening hours, size in square meters, owners, what they sold, everything really. One café, a dust shop, a clothing shop and an ammunitions store.

"Hey that isn't the store we shopped at is it?" Yang pointed to the dress store, but Blake was busy thinking and talking to her sister.

"Any ideas? You would know more about them then me." Leone asked. "Which is another reason why you should stay." She added quietly.

But Blake didn't seem to hear it, or if she did she ignored it for the time being, although it would have been hard to from the way she felt Yang react to it.

"Well if you're saying they're just the first group, they'll probably be wanting to set up a firm foundation in the city, utilities and supplies would come after. So if I was with them it'd probably be the dress store and the café."

"The café and dress store?" Leone repeated.

"It's not uncommon for them to inconspicuously take over stores without notice and use them as fronts and somewhere for their agents to hide." Blake explained.

The vehicles on the camera feed had started moving now, the feed switching to a new set of cameras on the street where they pulled out from, watching them go down the road until they were out of range and the feed switched again.

"Orders?" An agent asked.

Leone began to think. If she stopped them now, there were two possible outcomes she could think of. One, they stop them and then they would wait to try another time and probably another place. Two, they stop them and they leave the city. Or they could do nothing and let them get cosy and comfortable for now, but that would mean sacrificing the two stores and their owners.

"We wa-"

"I'm going." Blake stated suddenly.

"What? Going where?"

"Where do you think? Going to stop them."

Yang shot her partner a surprised and confused look.

"On your own?"

"No, Yang will come with me."

_'I will?'_

"Blake we don't want to scare them off." Leone explained.

"No, _you _don't want to scare them off. Besides, if I go they'll recognise us as from Vale and won't think Vacuo has any hostiles watching them." It was a fair point, but still.

"Blake-"

"Leone I'm not going to just watch them ruin two more families' lives, okay? It's not how I work. Plus I highly doubt they'll give up with this city so quickly."

Yang and Leone watched Blake walk past them and toward the door, before opening it and stopping to look back at her partner.

"Are you coming?"

* * *

"Do you even know where to go?" Yang asked as they moved through the building.

"The dress store _was_ the one we went to, as for the café I looked at the route from the dress store." Blake explained.

"Blake are you ok?" Yang asked, after a short silence, sensing that she was _not_ ok.

"I'm fine."

"Of course you are. I'm just not sure we should be doing this, we don't exactly belong here and your sister seemed to have a good plan and they do seem like a very capable bunch of people."

"So? Like I said, I'm not going to do nothing."

Blake stormed out the front door, her brisk exit startling the receptionist who was still stationed at her desk.

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Yang asked carefully.

"What else is there Yang?" Blake snapped, but the blonde was undeterred.

"I dunno, maybe something like staying here in Vacuo with your sister."

Blake stopped, Yang saw her ear twitch slightly before she turned around to face.

"Can we not talk about this now?" Blake managed to say evenly. "We need to hurry."

Blake turned away from Yang before she could say anything and ran across the street, leaping high into the air before kicking off one the buildings, grabbing the street light and then leaping onto the roof of the building. Yang sighed as Blake was hidden behind the roof of the building before chasing after to her.

"Do you think they split up?" Yang asked as they sat perched on a roof across the street from the clothing store.

"I only saw one commander, so no. The commander is usually the one to intimidate and scare off the owners, so if there was only one they'll be doing each store separately."

They watched as the store owner they had chatted to earlier in the day began bringing down the shutters for the store windows, trading hours had passed and it was time to close up and head home, perfect for the White Fang as there were no customers, or witnesses.

"Look," Yang began just as the owner closed the third last shutter. "I can understand what you might be thinking and feeling right now."

"Yang pl-"

"But I think, given the circumstances, you shouldn't let me and Ruby and Weiss hold you back from staying with your sister."

"Yang!"

"AAhmm!"

Both Blake and Yang turned their heads toward the store, just as someone hurriedly stepped up to the last shutter and closed it shut.

Blake cursed, "Let's go."

They leaped down from the roof and ran up to the front of the store, everything was locked up tight.

"We'll have to go round back." Blake stated.

"Why I can just…" Yang drew her arm back as Ember Celica whirred to life.

"No. We can't make too much of a ruckus." Blake warned. "Just boost me up." Blake pointed up to the roof.

Yang practically threw her partner up and onto the roof of the building before she let down her ribbon and helped Yang up as well. They heard a crash from beneath them as they ran along the roof and jumped down behind the store. They landed and moved to the back door, pausing before the charged in.

"There's probably someone watching the door." Blake whispered.

Yang nodded.

"Knock, they'll have to open if they want to avoid suspicion, I'll knock him out." Blake explained.

Yang sighed, once again she was the blonde distraction. Blake rolled her eyes at her partner and moved to the other side of the door as Yang took her position. She stood straight and dusted herself off, causing Blake to roll her eyes again before Yang knocked softly.

It took a few seconds, but just as Blake said, someone had opened the door, making a very poor attempt at hiding their weapon behind their back. Yang smiled brightly and waved to the man just before Blake quickly reached around the door frame, grabbed the man by the collar, pulled him out the door, spun him around onto the wall she had been leaning against before holding him steady and kneeing him in the gut with her hand over his mouth before bringing his forehead down into her knee.

Meanwhile Yang had rushed forward to quickly grab another White Fang member standing behind the one Blake took. Yang had rushed forward as quietly as she could, which was surprisingly so, before she picked him up by the collar, hand covering his yelp, before throwing him as far as she could back out the door. Black watched as another White Fang agent soared through the door and landed on his back with a solid thud and before a scream could leave his throat Yang was on top of him and he was out with a single punch.

Blake watched her partner get off the ground and walk up to her.

"What?"

Blake didn't bother and stepped into the store. Before she did she took note that only one of their vehicles were parked outside, meaning the remaining six were not present, leaving four inside. The rest of them were probably at the café store watching it and waiting for their commander.

As they entered they heard the cry of a woman quickly followed by a calm, deep voice and the sound of something falling over which sounded like the cash register.

Blake and Yang shared a glance before they proceeded.

"So really, you have no choice. I'm sorry to say but this store no longer belongs to you."

"Y-you can't do this. I need the money! I need the job!"

"Aww what a shame." The commander teased, bending down to grab her cheeks like a baby.

"Life's a bitch honey, get used to it." He stated. He got back up and motioned to his men, two of them moved forward toward the woman and she tried to scramble away just as they were about to grab her.

"Hey Alex? Sorry to come in after hours but the dress I bought doesn't seem to fit me anymore, can I get a size up? It seems my chest got a- oh."

Yang strolled in through the back as if it was any other normal day, chuckling at her own joke before looking up and seeing the group of White Fang within the store. Alex, the store owner, recognised Yang immediately as her customer from earlier today, her and the cat faunas, it wasn't easy to forget a couple like that. But what confused her was why she was here, actually all of this was confusing.

"Hey I didn't know you did men's clothes." Yang said with a grin and her head cocked to the side.

"It's that stupid blonde from Beacon!" The commander growled. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well I did come to change my-"

Yang stopped mid-sentence as her aura flared slightly and she instinctively spun around, Ember Celica deploying just in time to stop a blade from slicing through her arm. The White Fang agent was startled by the speedy reaction and even more so by Yang's smile and wink before she flicked his sword to the side and punched him straight in the nose.

The two men beside Alex left her for the time being and rushed toward Yang, although one stopped to lift his rifle up and point it at Yang's back while his partner continued with his sword drawn, or he would have if a boot didn't smack him in the head.

Blake seemed to come out the roof somehow, hidden in the shadows, when in actual fact she leaped over the counter beside Yang, used a clone to reach the roof and spun around horizontally so that her boot hit one of the agents in the head while her sword smacked the other agents rifle toward the ground just as he pulled the trigger. Blake landed in front of the rifle man just as he brought it up to try and shoot at this new target, but Blake flipped backward, kicking his gun up to the roof where it fired off its mark another time.

Just as he was about to bring it down Blake slid to her knees and spun around, Gamboul Shroud lancing across his knees before she rose up and her blade lanced across his stomach as he fell. Blake came out of the spin with Gamboul Shroud coming down in a great vertical arch that slammed the agent into the ground painfully with a grunt and knocked him out.

The other agent that she had kicked in the head was about to make his move when the opponent Yang was dealing with came flying through the air and smashed straight into him. The two of them fell backward, smashing into a table of tops and jeans, toppling it over and drowning them in women's casual wear.

"Ooh, sorry about that Alex." Yang winced as something else crashed on top of the two agents.

Which left just the commander.

"Shouldn't you two be in school?" He asked, drawing his two club like cleavers from his back.

Yang shrugged, "Yeah, we should be."

Blake chose the moment to rush forward, a shadow clone throwing her forward. She quickly lashed out, separating both portions of her weapon and using them in unison. A series of purple slashes danced across the commanders front and his blades, sparks flying from metal on metal. Blake quickly used another shadow clone to push her into the air above him, where she spun around, her blades just slashing across his own before she flipped forward and passed over him, kicking him in the back in the process.

He stumbled forward, right into Yang who brought her arm forward, putting her weight behind her fist. The commander was quick enough to bring his cleavers in front of him to form an 'x' and take the punch right in the centre of the formation, but even still the force was enough to have him sliding back on his feet and put a slight dent in his blades.

He slid past Blake, who was waiting and spun around as he past and kicked one of his arms away from his body. His arm swung out as Yang rushed forward, taking the opening her partner made in his defence and bringing her right arm around in a powerful uppercut that slammed into his side and effortlessly broke his ribs. Yang quickly followed up and brought her fist around against his jaw, swinging his head to the side painfully.

He stumbled back but orientated himself enough to spin into the action and bring his own weapon down on top of Yang. Yang easily lifted her arm above her head and blocked the attack, his blade slid off her gauntlets and just as she was going to rush forward he quickly brought his weapon back up and thrust it toward Yang.

Yang found it odd that he was pointing a, not-pointy object, at her before he pressed a button near his thumb and a shotgun round blasted from the barrel currently pressed against Yang's chest. Yang yelled out and crashed into another table in front of the cash register and sent splinters of wood and items of clothing flying across the room.

"Yang!" Blake yelled out after her partner was hidden from sight by the pile of clothing, just as the commander levelled his other weapon at her and fired.

The shot bounced off Gamboul Shrouds blade with a loud ding as Blake ran toward him. Despite the pain pounding in his ribs and broken jaw he was still performing quite well. He brought around his own two swords and swung them down at Blake, but only managed to pass through a shadow clone. Blake had jumped up, passing between the blades of a ceiling fan and lashing out at its support with her sword.

The ceiling fan, along with Blake herself, fell to the ground on top of the commander. He lifted his arms up to protect his head and grunted when he felt the weight of the fan slam into him and buffer him backwards. Blake ran forward, lashing out at his shins before jumping over his shoulder, using it as a support to leap towards the wall which she then used to push off and kick him in the back.

As soon as her feet touched the ground she was in the air again, a shadow clone pushing her toward the back of the commander as he continued to stumble away. With a shout, Blake re-joined her two blades mid-flight, grasped it in both hands and spun around, bringing her cleaver around with all her might to slam it into the back of the man's head.

He yelled out on impact and lurched forward into a wooden set of shelves holding various forms of clothing. The shelves broke and collapsed as he smashed into it and stumbled away, shirts, and tank tops falling to the ground in a heap. Blake took one shot at the back of the commanders knee as he stumbled back toward her, the bullet hit its mark and caused the leg to collapse from underneath him.

He slipped on a pair of denim jeans and was falling backwards to the ground. Just before he hit the floor, the flat side of Gamboul Shroud came down in one powerful swing and its purple hue was the last thing he saw before everything went black with a loud ding.

When Yang clawed her way out of all the clothes she found the store in worse condition then she left it in, Blake standing next to the commander breathing heavily, her knuckles white around Gamboul Shrouds grip.

Yang turned to find Alex watching on with bewilderment, gazing over the destruction of her store.

"Alex, I'm _really _sorry."

* * *

This was taking too long, they should have arrived minutes ago, they were never late. It shouldn't be that hard to get one dress shop off one woman, unless they were having a little fun with her, then that would explain the delay.

Trent checked the time again, tapping nervously on the steering wheel as he peered out the window toward the café store for another time.

"Should we call them?" Someone asked.

"Yeah I think we should-Whoooa!" Trent was cut off as the car suddenly tilted forward and started moving, as if something had lifted it off its rear wheels and was moving it along.

"What the hell!?"

He checked the rear view mirror and found a blonde girl lifting the car by the tail bar and pushing it along the road. She looked into the mirror and winked at him.

"What the fu- Get out!" He yelled, "Get out and stop her!" He commanded.

But just as their hands touched the door handles, Yang threw the car onto the ground and sent one powerful kick into the back of it, Ember Celica providing the required force not only to dent the boot shut, but to push the car down the alley way she had carried it into.

She laughed as she heard them yell as they were flung, no doubt, from their seats. It took them a moment after the car had come to a halt until they all burst out the vehicle, at which point Blake burst from the shadows and took three of them out before they even noticed, an almost invisible shade hidden by the darkness. The remaining three tried to run away before Yang slammed into the ground in front of them, ginning broadly as they literally shook in their boots.

Needless to say, these grunts were much easier to deal with than the other six, and a lot funnier.

* * *

Even if it was quick, Yang could still tell that her partner was feeling a lot more tense than usual, besides feeling the way her aura thrashed about haphazardly instead of its cool, smooth wavering, Blake was attacking with ferociousness she might not have intended, perhaps fuelled by anger and frustration.

As they made their way back to Leone Yang spoke up, "Blake I-"

"Yang!" Blake held her hand up. "Just, don't."

"I just want you to know we shouldn't hold you back from making a decision." Yang pressed, chasing after her partner who was failing to ignore the blonde.

"I know it seems like the opposite of how I should be feeling but I know what it's like to have a sister and it wouldn't be fair if you missed out because of us."

Blake tried to squeeze the words out, tried and failed.

"Blake of course I want you to stay with us," Yang grabbed her arm and turned her around. "Blake I love you, more than anything, you know that and I hate it when we're apart. But because I love you I want you to do what will make you happy."

Yang paused to wait for a response, but none came, Blake continued to avoid eye contact even as Yang fought to see her eyes.

"Blake?"

"Yang I don't!- Look- I don't know!" Blake yelled, stepping away from Yang.

"Know what?"

"I don't know what will make me happy! You've just assumed staying here will!"

"Well yeah don't you want to be with your siste-"

"Of course I do! Of course!"

"Then why-"

"Because Vale is my home now! Beacon is my home!" Blake snapped, her thoughts still battling amongst each other even as she yelled.

"For two years that was my home! It took me one of those years to realise that it was and another of those years for me to move on and accept that fact and _that _made me happy. Being with _you _made me happy and it still does."

"Leone doesn't make you happy?" Yang asked carefully.

"Of course she does Yang! She's my sister for christ's sake! _My _sister!" Blake motioned to herself.

Yang hated that all she was doing was watching her partner struggle to come to terms with what she wanted, something that was clearly painful to the faunas.

"Seventeen years Yang. _Seventeen. _I had forgotten about her that's how long it's been. But I loved her so much, even it was for a short time, I loved her more than anything. And now she's here, alive, and she wants me to stay and help her against the White Fang, something I had no clue how to do until now, something I so desperately want to achieve.  
But how can I do that if I'm leaving everything that I've come to love and be grateful for behind?"

Blake looked Yang in the eye and Yang could see just how torn her partner was by the way the usual bright amber colour of her eyes had dimmed and quivered lightly.

"Blake, she's your sister, we can't question something like that. Family before frien-"

"Yang you _are _my family! _You_!"

The way she said it just showed how desperate Blake was to get Yang to understand just what she feeling.

"I had no family before Beacon, before team RWBY. I left the White Fang and everything and everyone, all I had was my books, my bow and my weapon. I had no family. But then I met you and your sister and Weiss and we became a team. In the beginning you guys were my teammates, but two years later, a few difficult times and a huge wake up call, I felt like calling Ruby 'baby sis' and Weiss 'sister'. You had already passed all that and got to me first, but Ruby and Weiss became my family."

Blake paused, taking a breath and letting it sink in.

"Do you understand now Yang? Not so long ago I realised where I wanted to be, who I wanted to be with, I was happy, I knew what I wanted, but now, now I have another family and I don't know where to go anymore."

* * *

**A/N: I feel kinda bad for all the crap I've put Blake through...**


	37. Home is where family is

**A/N: Decisions are hard!**

* * *

Where is it? Where? It can't possibly be this hard to find, its one book, how hard can it be to find one book? Actually, what was she thinking, it was like finding a needle in a hay stack! The amount of books Blake had was ridiculous. Ruby couldn't stop but wonder how in the world she fit so many books in her suitcase, or how they fit on the book shelf.

Unless they didn't and Blake had put them somewhere else.

Ruby held her finger in the air in triumph, she had been looking in the wrong place this whole time. Of course it wouldn't be in the bookshelf, that would be too obvious. But then Ruby paused.

Unless Blake wanted them to think like that and she actually did have it in the bookshelf.

Maybe just one last check and then she'll look elsewhere, Ruby decided.

Weiss watched her partner as she leaned on the door frame, arms folded and an eye brow raised in the air. She said it so many times, yet she found it hard to believe that she had actually fallen in love with a dolt, a honest-to-goodness real life dolt.

One which was currently on her hands and knees scampering around Blake's bookshelf, scanning every single inch of the wooden cabinet, a focused, yet undeniably adorable, look on her face. It was a wonder how Ruby hadn't noticed her yet, then again she was extremely focused and Weiss had considered making herself known but decided she'd rather observe and preserve such a moment. So there she stayed, against the door frame with a small smile curving her lips as she watched her dolt of a partner look for something.

_'What is she after anyway?'_

What's this? Ruby had found something, something she missed last time, but not this time. Along the side of the shelf about halfway down was a small wooden panel that was just sticking out a little. You wouldn't have noticed from far away, or even up close, but seeing as Ruby was dedicating so much time and effort for searching for this book, she _didn't_ miss it.

She brought her finger up to the small panel, the book sized panel might she add, and gave it a little flick outwards. Surely enough the panel came loose and fell to the ground, revealing to the red headed leader, another compartment within the bookshelf filled with even more books, books Ruby had been looking for.

"AH HAH!"

Ruby pulled the book out and yelled in triumph, holding the book high into the air even though she thought no one was in the room to see her triumph.

Weiss jumped at the sudden proclamation of victory and looked to see what her oh-so-dear partner had discovered. She squinted as she tried to make out the title, reading it slowly within her mind.

_'Ninjas….of love. OH NO!'_

"Now I get to see what Blake keeps hiding from us." Ruby mumbled greedily as she went to open the book.

Ruby slowly opened the book, a bookmark opening it midway through the pages. Her eyes landed on the first words of the page, 'and then she lowered her hand and-' and then the book was in two pieces and Myrtenaster was resting against her knees.

"AAH!" Ruby jumped and threw the two pieces of the book in the air, scattering loose pages across their dorm.

"Weiss! What did you do that for?!"

"I'm sorry, I panicked." Weiss quickly returned Myrtenaster to her waist.

"Panicked?! What for!? You just destroyed Blake's book!"

"It's fine, we'll get her a new one. I mean _I'll _get her a new one, you can clean this mess up." Weiss stumbled through her statement.

"What? Why me?! You sliced in half like a maniac!? Not to mention you nearly got me too!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Ruby I pride myself on having more than enough control not to slice my dolt of a partner in half, so please don't be so overdramatic."

"Me? Overdramatic? I wasn't then that just cut a perfectly good book in half!"

Weiss winced, it was unfortunately a very good point.

"Nevertheless," Weiss started, "what's done is done. Now help me clean up." Weiss kneeled to the floor and began picking up the loose pages, catching a glimpse of a few words her eyes went wide and a warm flush spread across her cheeks.

"Don't read any of it!"

"What? Why?" Ruby asked, holding a few pages in her hands, the temptation already growing.

"Because I said so!"

"Weiss you're acting really weird and your cheeks are all rosy. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine!" Weiss turned her face away from Ruby.

"Weiiiiss?"

Weiss grumbled before turning to Ruby and snatching the papers out of her hand. "Give me those!"

"Hey!"

"Go talk with JNPR." Weiss commanded.

"No, I don't want to!" Ruby remained defiant. "Tell me why I shouldn't read these pages."

"Ruby!"

"Weiss."

Weiss stared at her partner as the red head folded her arms and remained steadfast in her defence. Weiss had assumed Blake had been reading some rather, _mature_, material, but this, this was on a whole new level then what she had assumed. Something she'd very much like to shield her partners innocence from, telling Ruby what was on these pages as vaguely as she could, would only make the dolt more curious, and in this case, curiosity would definitely kill the cat.

"Ruby it's-"

Just as Weiss began to talk Ruby's scroll rang, saved by the bell.

_'Oh thank goodness.' _Weiss sighed, rubbing her forehead.

Ruby answered the call and held the scroll to her ear, all the while maintaining her gaze on her partner, until she heard her sister's voice.

"Yang? Hi! How's it going?! How's Vacuo? What's Blake doing? What did they want with her? Is everything fine?"

Ruby easily shot off question after question even before Yang had the chance to even think of an answer for them. After practically yelling into her scroll, Yang finally got her sister to calm down and to listen.

" What?! A sister!?" Ruby yelled. "What do you mean?"

…..

"Seventeen years? What?! Seriously?!"

….

"Wow."

Weiss couldn't hear all of what was being said but from reading the change in her partners expression she could tell something was up. After a few minutes of talking Ruby closed the call and stared at the wall as she hit her palm with her scroll in contemplation.

Weiss watched as her partner frowned and pursed her lips, humming a 'hmm' before stopping and turning to face her.

"Weiss, you ever been to Vacuo?"

* * *

"You own the penthouse!" Ruby squealed as they rode the elevator to the top floor.

"Ruby please." Weiss winced and ushered her partner to lower her voice.

"What else do you own?! This is amazing!" Ruby spun around and jumped in excitement, causing the elevator to shudder a little as it continued to climb. "Oops."

"How big is it? Does it have a pool? A hundred inch tv? Huge beds? Huuu!" Ruby sucked in a breath as a thought came to her, "does it have a _candy room_?" She asked in a half whisper half squeal.

"If you waited a few more seconds you would find out wouldn't you? And may I reminder you that although we are away from Beacon that doesn't mean we stop doing work. We promised that we would do what was sent to us by JNPR and send it back on the due date, this isn't a vacation, we're just here to offer support for our teammate."

Ruby blinked wordlessly at her partner. She had never known someone to be able to suck all the fun and delight out of something with such ease and keep a straight face while doing it.

"What _are _you?" She breathed, just as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

"Excuse me?!"

But Weiss' words fell amongst a cloud of roses as Ruby shot straight out of the elevator and right across the huge room and slammed against the wall–to-wall window that looked over Vacuo city.

"This is amazing." Ruby breathed, being pressed against the window gave her voice a rather comical nasaliness.

Weiss rolled her eyes as she was left to pick up their bags and move them out of the elevator and toward the rooms.

"There are more than enough rooms for all of us, but I suppose I should let you choose your own." She called.

"Uh huh." Ruby responded, still gawking over the view.

"Ruby." Weiss repeated.

"Yeah?"

"Rooms? Could please peel yourself off the window, you're going to leave prints." Weiss moved forward to grab her partners hand and remove her from the window, which did feel like peeling something off a wall.

Ruby whimpered as the amazing view was removed from her sight.

"Oh please, the city isn't going anywhere, the view will be there tomorrow night as well." Weiss stated.

Ruby followed behind her partner as they moved through the huge penthouse, Ruby throwing her head from side to side so she wouldn't miss anything. There were a bunch of closed doors to her right that were just begging to be explored but Weiss had Ruby's hand in her grasp and Ruby didn't really want to break the contact just yet, she quite liked the feeling.

They moved around the centre of the room that was the elevator shaft and found themselves walking up a flight of stairs to a second level. It seemed the wall-to-wall window from downstairs reached up and continued upstairs, offering a similar view of the city.

The centre of the room was a large TV room, a huge flat screen sat in front of the windows, looking over a luxurious rug and what appeared to be even more comfortable lounges, enough to sit a family of ten. On the right there was a wall that separated the TV room from the rest of the floor and from what Ruby could see, beyond the wall was a bar and a huge wine rack and possibly a fridge. To her delight there was even more beyond _that._

But Weiss went left, on the very left of the room, in the corner, was a hallway that ran all the way to the end of the penthouse, Weiss stated that was the way to the master bedroom. But before that, where the hallway began, was a row of doors next to each other, equally spaced out and what led to the five other bedrooms of the suite.

"Pick one." Weiss commanded.

"One what?" Ruby asked.

Her partner rolled her eyes, "A room silly. Pick a bedroom."

Ruby walked up to the first door, "Out of one of these?"

"Yes Ruby."

"Oh. That's easy! The one next to yours!" Ruby answered with a warm smile.

_'Of course, how didn't I know.' _Weiss thought as he moved to the second door.

"I guess that would be yours then." Weiss motioned to the first.

"I guess so."

They stepped into their rooms and Weiss immediately heard Ruby take in a breath as she laid eyes on her room. Not long after was there the sound of someone bouncing on a bed, followed by a click and the TV came to life.

"They have the Let's Play channel!" Ruby squealed.

Weiss shook her head with a smile as she entered her own room, opening her suitcase and laying out her items. Sure this place was huge and luxurious, but something about it already made her uncomfortable.

* * *

Ruby had discovered so much already and with every new discovery she fell in love with this place even more. Not only did it have two huge TV rooms, eight bedrooms, one ridiculously huge master bedroom, a mini-gym, three huge bathrooms-one with a spa bath, a computer room, a massive kitchen and not to mention the roof top terrace, but the penthouse also had, the single most amazing thing ever in the whole universe ever to be observed. It had a hallway, filled with a glorious light that beckoned the red head to come forth and bask in its endless glory and she so humbly accepted.

Weiss came out of the kitchen with a nice warm cup of coffee, warming her hands as she sipped at it gently. As she left to inspect the rest of the suite, to see how much of it was kept the same from last time she visited, she couldn't help but stop and turn her head and watch as her partner slowly went to her knees in front of an open cupboard.

Weiss blinked at her for a moment, she was extremely confused and even a little worried, before she remembered that it _was_ Ruby Rose and this was not far from her regular self. So Weiss quietly walked up behind her partner to see what all the fuss was about.

Of course! How could she forget?!

The suite _did_ have a candy room! It was actually more of a walk in wardrobe filled with high sugar levels and bad blood pressure, but Weiss knew her partner wouldn't see it like that. Actually, by the looks of things, Weiss had no clue how Ruby _was_ seeing the cupboard.

The red heads silver eyes were gleaming so brightly it was as if she was staring at a heavenly light.

"Ruby?"

No response.

"Rubyyyy?" Weiss called.

Ruby chose the moment to get to her feet and slowly, carefully walk into the cupboard.

"Yeah?" She answered, sounding very distant.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to heaven. I think." Ruby continued, stepping further into candy land.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You don't want to leave me alone do you?" Weiss tried.

"I'm sure you'll cope." Ruby replied.

Weiss mouth dropped open at how forward her partner was being, not to mention how little attention she was getting from the red head, all because of some chocolate and sweets.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.

Ruby jumped and was pulled from her hallucination, coming to her senses and frantically looking between Weiss and what she was standing in. Suddenly she rushed out of the cupboard and slammed the door shut behind her, breathing heavily as if she had run a marathon.

Weiss perked an eyebrow at her partners sudden reaction.

"Weiss, if you love me. You'll keep me away from this door my _entire _life. Do you understand?"

Weiss nodded carefully, unsure whether to laugh or take her warning very seriously.

"Okay good. We should probably get ready, they should be here soon."

* * *

"Yang where are we going?" Blake asked for the hundredth time, receiving the same answer.

"Just relax. We're not going anywhere."

Blake simply glared at her partner.

"Okay I admit, that was a bit stupid to say. Uh, we're going out!" Yang decided.

"I can see that. But where? This isn't exactly a good time to be getting drunk."

"Blake when have any of us ever gotten drunk?"

"I don't know, whenever I ask you I can't tell if your being serious or not."

"Good."

"Yang!"

"Look, if you can just calm your bellabooty for a few more moments you'll found out."

Blake glared at her partner. "Don't ever use that word again."

* * *

One, calmish 'bellabooty' and a few moments later

"A hotel?"

"Yep."

Blake sighed, "Why?"

"I really don't like your attitude today." Yang stated, pressing the button in the elevator.

"Sorry for being so conflicted lately." Blake snapped.

"Maybe that was a bit too soon." Yang mumbled.

"Why are we going to the penthouse? We didn't even order a room let alone the _penthouse_. Yang what's going on?"

Yang just smiled and watched the numbers slowly tick up.

"Yang?"

DING!

"SURPRISE!" Ruby yelled, causing Blake to jump.

"Ruby!?"

"And Weiss!" Ruby pulled her partner into view for the faunas.

"What?! What are you doing in Vacuo?!"

"We came to-" Ruby paused as the elevator doors started closing again, until Yang stuck her hand out and they opened again. "We came to stay with you of course!"

"Stay? What do you mean stay? What about school?"

"Fortunately, Ozpin was kind enough to grant us leave as long as we continued to study from here." Weiss explained.

"Leave? Leave for what? For how long?"

"As long as you need Blake." Ruby stated with a warm, sunny smile.

"Well if you don't mind, I'd like to see just how loaded you Schnee's are." Yang proclaimed, stepping out of the lift. "By the looks of things I'd say it's quite a bit."

Blake remained in the elevator, still trying to comprehend what was happening, why the rest of her team was in Vacuo.

"Roof!" _All _of her team.

"Oh hey Zwei." Yang called, bending down to ruffle his chin.

Just then the elevator doors were about close again before Weiss stopped the doors.

"Do you want to come in?" She asked with a smile.

"So you own this place?" Yang asked as they sat and eat dinner.

Weiss had apologised for having to order room service, her professional, heiress to the SDC, side taking over as she apologised for the inconvenience, although they all quickly told her not to worry and sit down.

"Well, my family does. Not me per say." Weiss explained.

"Anything else you own?" Yang asked with a grin.

"I asked her already, she won't tell." Ruby stated.

"Because it doesn't matter." Weiss cut in. "Where have you been staying these past few days?"

"Oh just with Leone." Yang stated.

Ruby and Weiss nodded, much to Blake's surprise. She was expecting something along the line of, 'Who's Leone?' but instead nobody said anything, which could only mean one thing.

"You told them!?" She hissed at Yang.

"Told them what?"

"What do you think!?"

"Oh, yeah I did."

"Why!?"

"Because I-"

"Is that why they're here?!" Blake asked, ignoring Ruby and Weiss' glances.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you call them over because of what I told you? Did you tell them about that _too_?!"

"No I di-"

"What Yang told us was," Weiss cut in waiting to get their attention. "Was that you'd be staying for longer than expected and that perhaps we should come over too. She said that you were having troubles and that being here would help. If that's not true we can always go back to Beacon."

They sat in silence for a moment, Weiss' words hanging in the air between them.

"No you don't have to leave. I'm sorry I've just got a lot on my mind."

"We know." Ruby said, her smile still as warm as ever. "We don't mean to intrude or anything, we just came over so you know that we're close by if you ever needed us."

"Why do you keep saying it as if I'm going to be here for a while?"

"Because Blake," Yang turned to her, "The choice you need to make isn't going to be easy, I can see that it's already hard for you thinking about it. It's going to take time, and time is what we want to give you."

Yang watched Blake as the faunas slowly came around to the idea. Blake was more than grateful for what they had done for her, at first she was a little angry, mostly due to the surprise, but she understood why they had did it and it made her realise one of the reasons why she loved these people.

"Thanks guys."

"Our pleasure." Weiss replied with a bright smile.

"So," Ruby quipped. "When do we get to see big sister Leone?"


	38. Good night

**A/N: Filler, some warming filler tho**

* * *

"So are you going to stay with us for tonight?" Ruby asked as they finished up dinner.

"Sleep here?" Yang asked.

"Yeah."

"I don't see why not." Yang said, glancing over at her partner to see if she had any objections.

"Great!" Ruby exclaimed. "Ooh! I'll show you around before bed!"

So Ruby took Blake and Yang on an impromptu tour of the penthouse suite owned by the Schnee company. It didn't take long for Yang to realise that she had definitely made the right decision in staying here. After seeing the gym she was immediately hooked and was more than jealous of her white haired teammate.

"What else does she have in here? A bar?" Yang breathed as they continued on their way.

"Oh that's upstairs." Ruby answered casually.

Yang held her mouth open and stared at her partner, who glanced at her before rolling her eyes and turning back to Ruby.

"I haven't been to the roof yet, but I know you can go up there. I reckon it's amazing up there." Ruby spoke out loud.

"Nice kitchen." Blake mumbled as they walked past it.

"Hey Ruby, what's that door?" Yang asked, pointing to a door just outside the walls of the kitchen.

"Which one?" Ruby turned back to her sister.

Yang pointed again toward it and both Blake and Yang waited expectantly for an answer. It was the candy room.

"Oh that, uh that's uhm. Hehe." She shouldn't, she really shouldn't. But it wouldn't hurt just to show Blake and Yang, just a quick peek. A super quick peek.

"I'll show you!" Ruby finally stated, Yang and Blake sharing a confused glance.

Just as Ruby wrapped her hand around the handle Weiss walked into the room, just in time to witness her handy work in action.

Ruby swung the door open, a huge gleeful smile across her face as the holy grail was presented to her once more. Except this time it really did last a very quick moment, for what sat just behind the door waiting for her, was a glyph that Weiss had set up after Ruby had told her to keep her away from the room, it was for her own good Weiss had decided.

The glyph in question dinged before activating, a huge pile of snow bursting from its surface and engulfing the red head instantly, a small squeak could just be heard from the leader before she was covered.

Weiss snorted as she held back a laugh, Blake and Yang turning to her slowly.

"What?" Yang breathed.

Just then the top of Ruby's head burst from the mound of snow now laying in the kitchen, her red locks shaking about as she shook the snow away from her face.

"Weiss!" She yelled.

"Yes darling?" Weiss replied with a large dose of mirth.

Ruby glared at her partner before continuing, "What was that for?!"

"Well Ruby, as it so happens I do love you quite a bit, and as you told me earlier, I was just making sure you stayed away from this room, for how long was it?" Weiss brought a finger to her chin in mock contemplation. "Foreve-"

"I know what I said!" Ruby cut in, grumpily shifting out of the snow.

Yang leaned over to actually catch a glimpse of what was actually in the room. Blake watched her partners eyes widen before she turned back to them, "Yeah, good call Weiss." Yang stated.

Now Blake was interested, so she moved over to get a look. Her reaction was similar to Yang's, she turned back to look at Ruby where she was now standing in front of Weiss throwing snow off her form at the heiress while Weiss just laughed at her.

"Very good call." Blake repeated, closing the door.

"Well now you have a huge pile of snow in the kitchen." Yang stated.

"It's fine, it'll melt overnight, besides I think it was quite worth it." Weiss replied with grin.

"I'm going to shower." Ruby grumbled in defeat, storming off in that adorable way she always did.

"I guess I'll be showing you your rooms then."

* * *

As the hours ticked by and they spent their times indulging themselves in the many wonders of the suite, it was soon time for bed. Blake and Yang had taken the two rooms next to Weiss', completing the order they were so used to being in, Ruby, Weiss, Blake than Yang.

The beds were luxurious, to say the bed at Beacon were better would be a huge lie. With everything taken into account, the teams sleep would have to be one of the best nights they had ever had. But it was somehow the exact opposite of that.

All four girls were wide awake in their beds, to all of them something felt off, no matter how luxurious this place was there was still something uncomfortable about it.

Ruby was tossing and turning in her bed trying to figure out what it was, Weiss was lying on her back staring at the ceiling, Blake had given up trying to sleep altogether and had opened a book and was _trying _to read it. Her thoughts giving her a hard time with keeping her concentration on the words in front of her, and Yang was sitting in bed with the TV on, absentmindedly watching without paying too much attention to it. Whether it was a gift or a curse, she could feel how Blake was feeling, what was troubling her, and it was more than enough to keep Yang from falling asleep.

After an hour of futility Ruby had finally cracked the code, she had an idea!

The other three members of her team were still in bed when they heard the occasional soft thumping from outside, the quick noise of something being dragged along the floor and the a whooshing sound of something moving through the air.

At first they had dismissed it as just hearing things late in the night, Yang herself had almost missed the soft noises because of the TV, but eventually one particularly louder thump caught their attention and pulled them from their beds and out into the TV room outside. Weiss, Blake and Yang all stepped out simultaneously and were all pleasantly surprised at what they saw.

"I knew you'd be awake." Ruby proclaimed from where she stood, Zwei happily standing beside her.

Where she stood was quite something. They all blinked silently at her and shared exchanged glances between each other. Ruby had pushed the couches and chairs away from the centre of the room, creating an even larger space where the rug was positioned. But where the rug usually was, was another huge sheet draped over it, actually by the looks of things multiple sheets. On top of _that_ were dozens of pillows Ruby must have scoured around for and had thrown on top of the sheets, almost filling the entire surface with plump, cuddly pillows.

"What's all this?" Weiss asked already coming up with an idea.

"Well," Ruby began, not before walking into the centre of the pillows and plopping onto them, the ever present corgi sticking close to her side.

"I couldn't sleep, and I see none of us could. I wondered why, for a while and realised why I couldn't sleep."

"And why is that?" Weiss asked.

"I think we've spent too much time together." Ruby answered with a warm smile, patting the pillows next to her in a gesture to invite the rest of them to join her.

The three older girls shared a glance before moving to join their leader, dropping into the mass of pillows and immediately coming to a conclusion that this would be extremely comfortable.

"Don't tell me you already got sick of me Rubes. I thought we had at least a couple of more years." Yang teased, stretching her legs out and leaning back on her palms.

"I don't mean it in a _bad _way." Ruby replied. "I just mean we've kinda become really close haven't we?"

The question hung in the air for a moment, Yang glancing over at Blake taking note how her amber eyes glowed brightly, whether because of the dim light or something else, Yang still found it beautiful.

"I mean, after all the stuff we've already gone through so far. And this is only our second year."

"I suppose we _have _grown closer." Weiss stated, looking over Blake and Yang. "Even after all the things that have happened, all the fighting, the yelling, the heartbreak, I'd say we're doing pretty well as a team."

"Pretty well? Babe we're doing great!" Yang exclaimed, moving between Weiss and her partner and throwing her arms over their shoulders, pulling them closer together.

"No matter what we go through we always end up back together don't we?" Yang continued, surprised that neither Weiss or Blake were struggling against her.

"Maybe we're really lucky." Ruby suggested.

"Luck? Ruby I think I've got more than luck working for me here." Yang stated.

"What? Brute strength, a bad temper and a stupidly big chest?" Weiss dead panned.

"Huuuh!" Yang sucked in a breath and moved her arm off the heiress. "Weiss! How dare you talk about my assets like that!"

Ruby tried and failed to stifle a giggle.

"Assets?" Weiss repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah my-" Yang paused and turned to her left where Blake was still under her arm. "Are you laughing at me!?"

Blake didn't even bother to hide her stupid grin or try to stifle her laughter. "I'm sorry, but for someone who's so hot you just got burnt."

Ruby burst into laughter at Blake's statement, falling onto her side and drowning her laughs into the pillows. Yang was left to look between her beloved partner and the heiress, both of whom were laughing at her.

"I thought we were talking about staying together." Yang stated, folding her arms.

After a short silence filled with only laughter Yang turned back to Weiss. "Besides, you're just jealous."

Now Ruby and Blake stopped laughing, even Zwei sat up straight in anticipation.

"Jealous?" Weiss repeated. "Puh-lease. The last person I'd be jealous wouldn't even be close to you." Weiss stated proudly, turning away from the blonde.

The rest of them remained silent and Yang continued to grin at her.

"I'm not jealous!" Weiss almost yelled, "and I too thought we were talking about staying together."

"Aww, it's okay Weiss." Ruby moved to pull her partner into a hug, "I love you just the way you are." Ruby stated happily, although Weiss' cheeks flared red.

"Thank you Ruby, it's much appreciated." She mumbled as she avoided Yang's gaze.

"So Blake, I'm guessing you love _me _just the way I am right?" Yang asked.

"Definitely not."

Yang wasn't sure what surprised her more, how quickly Blake responded, how straight faced she said it, or how convincing she sounded.

"Blake!?"

"Jeez, you're so sensitive." Blake laughed. "Of course I love you just the way you are."

"I think we all love each other just the way we are, except for Yang's snoring, none of us want that." Ruby stated with a laugh.

"Hey you snore too!"

"Like I always say," Weiss cut in, "Ruby's snoring is cute, yours is barbaric."

"Blake why aren't you defending me?!"

"I'm sorry I have to agree with her on that one, especially with these." Blake wiggled her cat ears.

Yang sighed, she really couldn't argue with that.

"That brings up something I've been wondering. Why don't you have a tail?"

"A tail?" Ruby questioned.

"Yeah her sister has one."

"It's a recessive gene." Blake answered.

"A what?" Yang asked.

"It was just bad luck." Blake repeated, in much simpler terms.

Yang heard Weiss snickering behind her. "Now what's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"We're not sleeping tonight are we?" Ruby asked.

"Not by the looks of things."

That was fine, none of them cared, they were all enjoying the moment far too much to let sleep take them. But when they did finally fall asleep on the mass of pillows on the floor in front of the TV, that, was the best night they've had.


	39. Sisters

**A/N: Okay, so I don't know if any of you have heard or not, but Monty, the creator of RWBY was recently hospitalized and apparently is in a critical condition. I'm not sure what's happened to him as Rooster Teeth are keeping the privacy of Monty and his family, but I think we should keep him in our thoughts and prays and hope that he gets better and recovers as soon as possible.**

**He's been a great talent and an amazing person and for something like this to happen to him so suddenly is quite devastating, RT have started a fund raiser for him if you wish to donate and you can find it on their website, but I think we should all just keep him in our thoughts and prays and hope that he pulls through and can continue on as best as possible. **

* * *

Blake squinted as the sun climbed into the sky and poured though the wall-to-wall window and basked her in it's warm glow. Slowly she woke and opened her eyes, blinking in the sunlight and groaning as she rolled over to escape its rays. Only to roll over and come face-to-face with one of Yang's feet.

Blake jerked her head back as quickly as she could before she sat up and droopily looked over her partner. Not so surprisingly to the faunas, Yang had turned herself in her sleep somehow, currently now laying horizontally instead of vertically on the sheets. Blake shook her head with a smile until she spotted a pillow lying on the other side of the room, which was when she noticed Yang's out stretched fist.

_'Of course.' _Blake thought, rubbing her eyes and yawning, just as Weiss began to wake.

Fortunately for her, her partner was much less active in her sleep. All the red head had managed to do was roll over and face Weiss, her head only a few inches away from Weiss', close enough to feel each other's breathing.

Weiss looked over Ruby's sleeping face, her soft, peaceful expression spreading a warm calm through the heiress and making her smile. She reached up to move a small lock of hair that was partially blocking the heiress' view of her face, gently brushing it behind her ear. Ruby mumbled something incomprehensible before rolling over, Weiss's smile faded and was about to reach out to stop her partner before she noticed a certain faunas' gaze.

Weiss quickly jerked her hand back and nervously looked between Ruby and Blake, Blake laughed softly.

"Stop being so embarrassed." She whispered. "We know you love her."

"I know, you just spend so much time with Yang I feel like you're just going to say something smug."

"Like what? Like, 'oh the ice queen does have a soft spot'?" Blake did her best to imitate her partner in a lowered voice.

"Yeah." Weiss answered, gently lifting the blanket off her so as to not wake up Ruby as she got up with Blake.

"I wouldn't say something like that. I already knew she did." Blake replied, walking past Weiss and toward the kitchen.

Weiss paused as she thought over the meaning behind what Blake had said, surprisingly it brought a light smile to her lips.

Weiss caught up to Blake just as the faunas entered the kitchen. The heiress had to quickly reach out and grab Blake's arm before the faunas stepped into the puddle of melted snow from last night.

"Thanks." Blake said.

Weiss shrugged, "It's well known cats don't like water."

"Well I'm surprised it didn't freeze up as soon as you stepped in." Blake replied.

"Touché." Weiss said with a grin as they took mugs out the cupboard. "Tea's over here Blake." Weiss pointed to the small box on the bench in front of her.

Blake walked over beside Weiss and opened the box to pull out a tea bag, only she wasn't sure which one to pull out. The box may have been small, but it held at least thirty different selections of tea.

"Uh." Blake tilted the box toward her teammate.

Weiss chuckled sweetly before quickly taking a look at one of the selections and pulling it out.

"You like camomile right?" Weiss held the tea bag out for Blake.

"You remembered?"

"Not hard to remember really."

Blake nodded. "I thought you only take one sugar in your coffee?" She asked as Weiss dropped a third cube into her cup.

"You remembered too?" Weiss countered.

"Like you said, not so hard to remember. So the sugar, too much time with Ruby?"

"Something like that." Weiss replied as she poured the water into her cup before handing it to Blake.

Weiss leant back against the bench and sipped form her cup, sighing gratefully as the beverage woke her up a little. She took another sip and glanced over at Blake just as her cat ears flickered lightly above her head, causing Weiss to smile as she found it adorable.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Blake eyed her teammate suspiciously before placing the kettle down and blowing on her tea and taking a sip from it.

The two contrasting girls stood side by side against the bench in silence. Sipping from their respective cups quietly, staring out the window before them. From what Blake could hear from upstairs, Ruby and Yang were still fast asleep, she didn't think she needed her cat ears to tell Yang was.

After a moments silence Weiss finally got the courage to say what was on her mind.

"Blake, I'm not exactly sure what you're going through right now and whether or not this will make it easier or harder but," Blake turned to face her teammate. "I think you need to know that no matter what choices you make, no matter where you go, we will always be by your side the whole way through. I know I might not have acted like it was recently but, honestly if I ever knew you were in danger I'd want to be by your side in an instant.  
I don't think I could stand it if something happened to you because none of us were by your side. Looking over the past two years and all that we've been through, it's more than clear to me that you aren't just my teammate, winter isn't the only family I have now, I have you too."

Blake was silent for a moment, she really didn't know how to respond, how does one respond to something like this?

"I-" Blake began then started again. "Weiss, that means too much to me to put into words honestly. Thank you, honestly it means a lot, to hear it. If there was anyone I'd want to have by my side in battle it would be you. We haven't had the best of times together lately but, I never want anything to happen to you, or anyone else for that matter. I had family so close for so long before I found Leone again and I'm glad they are still by my side."

The two teammates remained silent, both overwhelmed by each other, both meaning every single word that had just been spoken.

Blake knew that whatever had happened between her and Weiss before would never get in between them again, she believed what Weiss said, she trusted the heiress and she wouldn't want anyone else to be her white queen.

"Why are you two already up?"

Both Weiss and Blake jumped as Yang lazily dragged herself into the kitchen.

"What are you doing anyway?" She asked with a yawn.

The two girls watched as the blonde made her way into the kitchen, past the candy room and toward the puddle of water. Neither Weiss nor Blake said a word, they both wanted to see what would happen and they were both, very pleased.

"WOAH!"

* * *

"Ooh is this like their super-secret undercover base of operations?" Ruby asked excitedly as they walked through the building that Blake and Yang had been in not so long ago.

"I guess you could call it that." Yang replied.

"So how much like Blake does she look exactly?" Weiss asked.

"Very similar, except blonde hair, ears and tail." Yang answered.

"So like you if you were a faunas?" Ruby stated.

Yang thought it over, "Kinda, if I had Blake's face that is."

"I hope we aren't intruding." Weiss stated, looking around as they passed various rooms filled with technical looking equipment.

"Things don't kick off till night time." Yang said.

Blake had been strangely quite the whole time.

"Blake you ok?" Yang asked, leaning closer to her partner and lowering her voice.

"I don't know why but I fell nervous." Blake admitted.

"Oh that's normal, introducing friends to family. _I'd _be nervous if I had to introduce the ice queen too."

"I heard that!"

"Don't worry Blake, we won't embarrass you. At least not that much."

* * *

Ruby was finding it very hard not watch as Leone's tail flicked back and forth, multiple times Weiss had caught her staring and elbowed her but if she wasn't looking at the tail she was looking at her ears.

"Blake has the exact same ears. Stop staring!" Weiss hissed, she was trying to make this easier for Blake and reduce any humiliation.

"I'm sorry." Ruby whispered back, staring down into her lap.

After the awkward introductions and greetings, they found themselves sitting down and chatting. So far none of the conversation had been directed at the red head, but that was soon to change.

"So why did you two decide to come to Vacuo?" Leone asked Ruby and Weiss.

"Because of Blake." Ruby answered a little too quickly. "I mean Blake and Yang! I mean we came because of both of them. We didn't think it was right to let them go alone."

"That's nice of you."

"Well a family that lives together sticks together." Ruby replied, unsure why Yang had just winced.

"I'm curious to know how you came to realise Blake was a faunas. Blake and Yang didn't tell me that story."

"Oh, uh…" Ruby looked to her partner for guidance.

"Me and Blake had an argument in which she accidently revealed her involvement in the White Fang." Weiss answered. "At which point she ran away and had us searching madly for her throughout Vale which lasted for a full twelve hours."

"Weiss!" Yang hissed but the heiress continued.

"But, if it hadn't been for that argument and for those twelve hours, we would have never known about Blake and I would have never decided to accept her for he she is _now_ and honestly I'm glad that's exactly what happened."

Now Yang wasn't sure if Weiss had just said a good thing or a bad thing.

"Sounds like you've been through quite a bit."

"Here and there."

"Not enough to keep us apart for very long." Ruby added.

"Even if it seemed like it was all over." Yang continued.

Leone looked over the four girls in front of her and it didn't take her long to realise that there was something deeper going on between them all, something she couldn't see. She had enough sense to understand that they had probably gone through a lot and because of that they have bonded so close together.

She knew Blake and Yang were quite close, it was easy to tell in the way they acted together. But she hadn't known that Blake had been part of a team that was acting as a family.

Leone was slowly beginning to understand why Blake was acting so strange since she asked her to stay. Blake was her sister and she loved her, she had missed her so much and perhaps in that moment she was being a little selfish, all she wanted was her baby sister back by her side, she didn't realise her baby sister had other family that loved her too.

What Weiss Schnee had just said had more than proved that fact.

Leone felt as if she should have another chat with her sister after this.

"There's something else I'm interested in knowing." Leone started again, pushing the thought from her mind for the moment. She had a feeling Blake would be nervous that she would find her friends strange or that they would embarrass her. Leone was more than happy to make sure that didn't happen and in fact happened in reverse, she's embarrass them.

"I really want to know how a heiress like Weiss Schnee fell in love with an adorable little girl like Ruby Rose."

Low and behold, true to her name sake, Ruby Rose did indeed become as ruby as a rose.

* * *

**A/N: Monty we thank you so much for all that you've done and I sincerely hope beyond reason that you make it through whatever it is your battling. **


	40. Smile

**A/N: It's nearly over guys :( there's just one person that needs to be re-addressed, a certain faunas looking for another chance.**

* * *

"Blake can I talk to you for a moment, before you go?"

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang all stopped and turned back to Leone as they were walking out. Their meeting had come to a close, after lunch and a multitude of stories ranging from the food fight with JNPR to the battle between Weiss and Blake that had come to draw.

The time spent with team RWBY only served to strengthen Leone's suspicion about Blake and her teammates, her baby sister had found something that she held close to her heart, she had no right to force her to leave that behind or take it away from her. At the end of the day, what it all came down to was that all Leone wanted was her sister to be happy, after everything they had experienced, she just wanted Blake to smile.

Blake glanced between her teammates, Yang ushered her to move on.

"We'll wait for you outside."

So the rest of them left the room, Blake staying behind with her sister. Leone ushered her to join her on the couch she was sitting on. Blake hesitantly walked up to her sister and sat down, turning to face her.

"What's up?" Blake asked carefully.

Leone fiddled with the fabric of her top, trying to put her feelings into the right words.

"You know I love you right?" Leone asked, looking up at Blake.

"Yeah of course I know that." Blake answered, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Leone nodded, turning back to the bottom of her top.

"Leone what's wrong?" Blake reached forward and pulled Leone's hand away from her top.

Leone looked up and met her sisters gaze, her amber eyes currently not as bright as she had remembered they used to be, maybe it was because of how she was feeling a little worried.

"What is it?" Blake asked again.

"It's about what I asked you before, about staying here."

"Oh." Blake's hand went back to her side. "What about it?" Blake tried to keep her voice as even as possible.

"I think, maybe I spoke a bit out of line."

Blake was silent for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"In hindsight, I might have been a bit selfish."

"Selfish? Why would that make you selfish?"

"Because I didn't even stop to think how you would feel about staying, or how your teammates would. I was just so happy to finally have you back in my life I wanted you never to leave, I didn't consider how that would affect you or your friends."

"I didn't think you were being selfish. Leone I want to be with you too."

"But do you?"

Black recoiled a little, what did that mean?

"What do you mean? Of course I do, I love you, I missed you so much. Of course I want to stay with you Leone, you're my sister."

Leone let a short silence fall over them, letting the situation settle in and formulating her next response.

"Blake I don't know whether you see it yourself or not but, your teammates, Ruby, Weiss and Yang, they aren't just your teammates."

_'Where is she going with this?'_

"I can tell that you all hold each other close to your hearts, I can see that even if you bicker and argue that you all love each other very much, like a family. You love them, just as much as you love me."

Blake went to say something but Leone held her hand up as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Don't try to argue, I know you want admit because you don't want to offend me, but I'm not offended. Actually I'm a little happy about it, that you haven't been alone all this time, that you found people that you love and that love you back."

Blake remained silent.

"Yang, for example, she's a very interesting young lady." Leone said with a small laugh. "She definitely seems like someone that will keep you busy for a long time."

Blake was too stunned to be embarrassed, she was struggling to keep up with what her sister was saying.

"Ruby and Weiss, Ruby seems like a very sweet, caring girl. She's cute, a little clumsy but still, cute. She comes across as someone you'd look after. Weiss surprised me if I'm going to be honest, from what Yang had said she was completely the opposite. Sure she was a bit sharp and proper, but she was polite and even if she sounded like she was being rude she was really just getting her point across, and I think I did get her point.

Her point being that you're not just a team, you're a family and now that I realise it, after two years of being together with them I have no right to expect you to leave them and stay with me. So what I'm trying to say is, I think you should go back to Vale with them, you have Beacon to get through and you belong there with the rest of the girls, we were born there, Vale is our home."

"Leone I-"

"Plus, who's going to take care of the White Fang there if you stay here?"

Leone smiled at Blake, her smile was genuine Blake could see it from the way her soft brown eyes looked at her. Leone meant what she said and Blake had no idea how to react.

"It doesn't mean I'll never see you again, I'll call and I'm sure you have holidays. Blake sometimes family members go different ways, doesn't mean they forget each other, I just think your family is the kind of family that always stays together and I don't like it when I'm wrong."

"I-I don't want to leave you here." Blake said softly.

Leone chuckled softly and pulled Blake into a hug.

"Awww, Blake you're not leaving me, I'm just letting you go."

"What if I don't want to go?" Blake countered, her voice still solemn.

"I never said it was going to be easy. But if you've made it this far without me, I'm sure you'll manage."

A calm silence fell over the two sisters, Blake still held in her sisters arms, not wanting to leave.

"Leone I love you." Blake felt her sister squeeze her lightly before pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"I love you too Blake."

* * *

They stayed for the rest of the week before Blake finally worked up the courage to tell her sister she was going back home. It was bitter sweet for the both of them.

They were both sad that they were being separated again, even if it was temporarily. But Leone found comfort in the fact that she knew her sister was in good hands, hands that were loving and caring, hands she knew would do the same she would if Blake was in danger. Where Blake struggled to find peace with the decision she made, Yang was just a heartbeat away and was quick to remind Blake why she made this decision and why her sister thought it was the best thing for her.

The goodbye was of course the hardest part, Leone was afraid Blake was going to miss the flight if she held onto her any longer. It broke the older girls heart to have to pry her sisters arms off of her, she almost gave up trying as Blake fought against her.

"Blake c'mon, stop being silly." Leone said between her own crying.

"Don't you dare forget to call!" Blake cried, holding onto her sister tightly.

"I won't, I promise." Leone replied with a laugh. "Now go, you're going to miss your flight."

"So?"

Leone laughed, "Blake. You're making this harder for the both of us."

"I never said it was going to be easy." Blake looked up at her Leone.

Leone smiled and brushed a strand of hair away from Blake's face.

"Promise me one thing?" Leone asked.

"What?" Blake sniffled.

"Smile more often. You look beautiful when you do, plus it makes me happy."

Leone offered her own smile in return, pulling Blake back in one last time.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Leone kissed Blake one last time before letting her go.

Blake went from her sisters arm, straight into Yang's begging for Yang's warmth to mask the feeling she had deep within her heart and Yang was more than ready to oblige.

* * *

Blake was fairly silent on the plane ride, her gaze fixed out the window as she sat in silence. Yang was too, she didn't think there was much to be said to her partner at least nothing she could think of.

"That's going to end horribly."

"No it won't."

"Yes it will, you're just too stubborn to admit it."

"Weiss, please I can open a packet of nuts-"

POP!

"You were saying?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at her partner who was currently staring at the torn packet of nuts in her hands, its contents scattered everywhere.

Yang couldn't help but laugh at her sister, even if the same thing had happened to her it was still funny when it happened to someone else.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"I doubt whether you faired any better anyway." Weiss added.

"Yeah! What she said!" Ruby poked her tongue out at her sister.

Yang laughed and turned away from her sister and Weiss and happened to catch a glimpse of Blake watching too.

"What?" Yang asked.

"Nothing." Blake replied, a smile turning the tips of her mouth. "It's nothing."

* * *

**A/N: Happy endings!**


	41. Keep moving forward

**A/N: And so comes the last chapter to this story. I'd like to thank you all for sticking with me, especially those who read TWLO, thanks for sticking with me for so long, I hope I didn't bore you too much.**

**I think its appropriate to pay my respects to Monty as I bring this to a close, for this story and myself would be nothing if it wasn't for him, for sharing himself with us, sharing HIS goals and dreams with us, for being such a great role model to so many people. **

**I always like to say be grateful for the PERSON bringing things into the world, not grateful for THOSE THINGS, and Monty is someone I'm so grateful lived and shared himself with us.**

**But alas, as Monty himself would want it, try not to linger on it, keep moving forward, never waste a second. You have a dream or a goal, stop wasting time and do it!**

* * *

"Home sweet home!" Yang proclaimed as she flung the door open and stepped into their dorm. "It's good to be back!"

"We weren't gone for very long." Weiss stated, rolling her suitcase in behind her.

Yang didn't bother to reply and instead chose to glare at her teammate, to which Weiss looked back and shot the blonde a confused look. Yang rolled her eyes and placed her suitcase at the foot of Blake's bed, speaking of which, the faunas herself just placed her own suitcase on her bed.

"Yeah but still." Ruby spoke up, "It _is _good to be back." The red head walked in and stood by her partner.

Blake remembered something and her ear twitched at the thought, there was something she had to check, but she couldn't do it now, there were too many witnesses, she'd have to wait for the right opportunity, but she was too anxious to wait very long. Luckily a certain Schnee was about to involuntarily offer her a distraction.

"I wonder where Winter is." Weiss questioned.

Ruby stiffened at the question but luckily no one noticed.

"Speak of the devil." Yang said as Winter walked in as if on cue.

"Oh!" Winter stepped back when she saw them, "You're back already!"

Ruby nervously looked between her partner, Winter and the paper held in Winter's hand.

"Where were you?" Weiss asked.

"Oh I was, uh, with team JNPR." Winter stammered.

Perhaps if she hadn't made a display of hiding the paper behind her person Weiss wouldn't have asked her about it and she wouldn't be pulled into the next situation.

"What was that?" Weiss asked.

"What? What was what?"

"That paper. Why are you hiding it?" Weiss asked sternly.

"Hiding? I'm not hiding anything."

"Winter!"

"Oh boy." Ruby muttered.

Blake took the moment to check what was nagging her, the rest of her team distracted by Winter and Weiss. She checked this almost every time she left the dorm and knew there would be someone else here while she was absent. It became a habit, one she wasn't sure whether she should beak or not.

Maybe if she got rid of the book she wouldn't have this problem.

Blake inconspicuously made her way to her bookshelf, checked one last time to see if her teammates were looking her way before unveiling her secret, until she noticed a discrepancy. The shaft of wood that concealed her hidden novels was slightly out of place, only just, but Blake was trained in detecting the slightest of changes in her environment and when it came to this particular setting, she couldn't afford to miss a thing.

Staring at the slightly misplaced piece of wood she froze for a moment, did this mean that someone had discovered her secret? Or maybe it moved on its own accord when something bumped the shelf? She wouldn't know until she checked inside, so slowly, carefully she removed the wooden plank.

"Winter what is it!?" Weiss demanded, trying to get behind her sister to see the sheet.

"I'll show you, just not now!" Winter argued.

"I want to see it now!" Weiss stated.

"Jeez stop being so impatient!" Winter continued to dance around her sister, dodging the older girls swipes at her hold on the paper.

"Stop being such a child and just show me!"

Yang didn't think it was wise to say she thought _Weiss_ was being the child in this situation, Yang smiled at the thought of her little sister having such an impact on the heiress, it was good to see that Ruby had a great impact on people, especially if it was the ice queen.

"Weiss I'm not going to-" Winter bumped into something and suddenly found herself locked in place.

Weiss took a moment to smile at her younger sister before snatching the paper out of her sister's frozen hands, her glyph rotating calmly around her sister's form.

"Weiss!" Winter yelled, "Not fair!"

"Well I _am _the Ice Queen." Weiss replied smugly, unfolding the paper with a proud flick.

"Uh maybe you should read it." Ruby cut in awkwardly.

Weiss paused, her eyes remaining on the first word of the page, 'Form.' Weiss slowly turned to her partner.

"And why ever is that?" She asked.

Ruby glanced between Winter and Weiss and even to Yang. "Uh, be-cause she doesn't want you too." She offered, twiddling her thumbs.

Winter groaned and rolled her eyes, accepting defeat as her sister turned her attention back to the page. Silence fell over the dorm room as Weiss read through the sheet, Winter wincing in anticipation for her sisters reaction.

…

"You enrolled!" Weiss yelled, reeling back to her sister.

"_And _I got accepted." Winter added

Yang raised an eyebrow at the sudden revelation and found it a little odd that her sister didn't share a similar reaction, as if she wasn't as surprised, as if she knew already.

"Who gave you permission?!" Weiss continued.

"No one, who's permission do I need?" Winter asked.

Weiss opened her mouth to answer her question before checking herself, neither of them needed permission from someone like _him_.

"Did you even tell them?"

"I will _now_."

"Why were you hiding something like this from me anyway? This is great! I'm so proud of you!" Weiss exclaimed, throwing her arms around her sister, her shock being replaced with pride and happiness.

"We wanted to surprise you when I got my uniform." Winter mumbled, rubbing the toe of her boot into the carpet.

"We?" Weiss repeated.

"Yeah it _was _Ruby's idea."

Weiss perked an eye brow and turned to her partner, her smile forming into a small grin.

"Hehe." Ruby chuckled nervously.

Weiss was about to make another comment before they heard Blake take in a shocked breath and they all turned to face her.

She was standing by her bookshelf, a small piece of wood in her hand and the look of someone who had seen a ghost plastered across her face, pale and wide eyed. Soon Ruby and Weiss took on the same expression as they realised what had just happened.

"Blake are you okay?" Yang walked over to her partner. "Blake?"

But the faunas was staring at Ruby and Weiss, she knew. It was one of them, or most likely it was both of them together, someone found her books and someone has taken one of them, they knew now, they _really _knew.

As if to add insult to injury, in the middle of the tense silence Ruby's suitcase finally gave under its pressure and popped open, spilling dozens of bags filled with sweets and candy all over the floor. Winter and Yang shot the pile of confectionary a confused look and if Ruby's face could get paler it would have.

Not only did she have to explain to Blake what happened to the book Weiss had sliced in half, but after that she would have to explain to Weiss why a quarter of her candy room from the penthouse was now lying on their dorm floor.

He didn't really owe her any favours, actually he would say she owed _him _some, there were multiple occasions where he stepped in when he didn't have to, but he didn't feel like denying the poor girl. She was really just out of options and looking for someone to help, he couldn't reject someone like that, plus even if he did Leone would have made sure he did it.

_'Psh, sisters.'_ He thought as he remained hidden in the shadows.

Blake had approached him before she left Vacuo, asked him for a favour. She said she had already asked Leone about it and that she agreed to the action, the action being him going back to Vale, finding a certain faunas and somehow persuading him to come back to Vacuo with him.

Easy right?

Said faunas went by the rather infamous name of Adam Taurus, one of the many fierce leaders and representatives for the White Fang, whom were now gracing Vacuo with their presence. At first Kage was more than hesitant to run back to Vale to hunt down someone who had tried to kill him before, have a friendly chat with him and then bring him back to Vacuo, it really wasn't an ideal situation, but as he said, he couldn't reject Blake like that.

Kage knew a little of what went on between Blake and Adam, knew enough to understand Blake's actions. Blake was desperately trying to pull him out of the world she had run from, for obvious reasons, and had left him behind to do so. No doubt filled with guilt because of it, she was now trying to exempt herself from the guilt by saving him from the world he had been consumed by, a world of death and hatred, a dark world.

So she had come up with this idea, hopefully it would work.

Finding him was the easy part, convincing him, now that would be a challenge.

Adam was still with the White Fang, not a group of people that hid well if you knew what to look for and Kage was one to know exacrtly what to look for. Just as easily he snuck in, moved past all the guards and surveillance cameras with ease, cornered a lone agent, got the information he needed and proceeded to find said Adam Taurus.

Kage found him in a small dark room, all the lights were off save for the small candle in the centre of the room Adam was sitting in front of, his weapon lying on the floor by his side. The warm light illuminated his masked face and bathed his head in dark shadows that danced as the flame flickered, Kage had to admit, it was a little unnerving.

"Back again?" Adam's voice rang out.

"On much different circumstances." Kage replied evenly.

Adam remained silent for a moment. "Care to elaborate?"

"I have an offer."

"An offer? For me? What could I possibly want from you?" Adam said with a laugh, although it sounded forced.

"I have something a little kitty told me you were searching for."

Adam's ears twitched at the mention of a cat, Kage took his silence as a motion to continue.

"A way out?" Kage suggested.

Adam remained silent for a moment, thinking over what to say, what side he wanted to be on, what he wanted to show Kage.

"A way out of what?" Adam asked.

"I know what Blake was trying to do Adam, I know how hard she tried, I watched her, I was there. She came to me and asked for help, she came to me with a plan, one that I hope will work and it only will if you're willing to follow along."

After another silence Adam replied. "Blake came to you?"

"She's never going to give up on you, you know that."

More silence. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me you wanted to leave the White Fang but couldn't find a way out, told me you wanted to start again." Kage paused for a short moment. "The White Fang have come to Vacuo, we don't know why or what they plan to do but we don't plan on letting them stay for long, we could use someone like you, we asked Blake to stay but she came back here and told us that we should come look for you. I came to get you out of here and take you back to Vacuo, to start again, start walking down a new path. So how about it?"

There was a tense silence between the two men, the candle continued to flicker and throw its light upon Adam's mask. In silence his got to his feet, picking up his weapon and stood in front of the small candle.

Adam made his decision, he knew what he wanted to do. He silently reached up to the bone mask covering his face, the mask he had worn for so long to strike fear into those he faced, to take on the appearance of a monster, and slowly pulled it off. It fell to the floor, landing beside the candle, the light flickered and its light reached up to Adam's now bare face and Adam couldn't describe how good it felt.

* * *

**A/N: End.**

**If any of you are interested, keep an eye on me, hopefully I'll start my short story series soon, lot's of funny and RWBY! **

**Keep moving forward!**


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